IRLF 


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Amateur 
Rodmaking 

By      Perry      D.      Frazer 


g^^S^ 


GENERAL 
LIPPARY 

UNIVER5I1T     OF 
CALIFORNIA 


AMATEUR  RODMAKING 


AMATEUR 
RODMAKING 

BY 

PERRY    D.  FRAZER, 

Illustrated 


HANDBOOKS 


Number  33 


NEW   YORK 

OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MCMXIV 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved 


>5 /V  ^^1 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  A  Review  of  Fishing  Rod  His- 
tory   13 

IL  Fishing  Rod  Material  ...     30 

III.  Mounting  and  Finishing  Ma- 

terials   50 

IV.  Tools  Needed  in  Rodmaking   .     69 
V.  Types  of  Bait-Casting  Rods     .75 

VI.  One-Piece  Bait-Casting  Rods  .     80 
VII.  One-Piece    Bait-Casting    Rods 

WITH  Separate  Handgrasps  .     96 

VIII.  Two-PiECE  Bait-Casting  Rods  .    loi 

IX.  Tfiree-Piece  Bait-Casting  Rods  107 

X.  Salt- Water  Rods     .      .      .      .111 

XL  Bass  and  Trout  Fly-Rods  .      .117 

XII.  Salmon  Fly-Rods      .      .      .      .121 

XIII.  On  the  History  of  the  Split 

Bamboo  Rod     .      .     .      .      .128 

XIV.  Split  Bamboo  Rodmaking  for 

THE  Beginner 151 

XV.  Split  Bamboo  Rodmaking  for 

THE  Advanced  Workers  .      .172 

XVI.  Winding  Rods 200 

XVII.  Varnishing  Rods     r.     .     r*     ,2x6 

ivi842701 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/amateurrodmakingOOfrazrich 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Nonagonal  and  Octagonal  Cane  Rods 

.      Page  21 

An  Eighteen-strip  Rod 

*'      23 

Serrated  Ferrules       ...... 

"      52 

Split  Ferrules 

"      53 

Plain  Capped  and  Welted  Ferrules     . 

**      54 

Sectional  View  of  Doweled  Ferrules 

**      56 

Reelseat  for  a  Single  Handgrasp 

''      57 

Cord-wound  Pine  Handgrasp     .... 

"      94 

Split  Bamboo  Tournament  Rod 

"     104 

Tarpon  Rod 

.        "     115 

Split  Bamboo  Bass  Fly  Rod       .... 

"     119 

Method  of  Attaching  Winding 

"     205 

FOREWORD 

IN  "  Rodmaking  for  Beginners  "  I  tried  to 
write  in  a  brief  and  plain  manner  for  the 
guidance  of  novices.  The  temptation  to 
branch  off  the  narrow,  straight  trail,  and  give 
the  fullest  details  in  working  out  the  various 
problems  was  very  great.  I  have  been  criti- 
cised by  some  expert  rodmakers,  but  to  balance 
these  criticisms  I  have  been  told  by  many  nov- 
ices that  they  were  enabled  to  follow  directions 
because  of  their  simplicity.  The  scope  of  that 
book  was,  therefore,  restricted;  in  this  one, 
however,  I  have  endeavored  to  go  deeper  into^ 
interesting  branches  of  rodmaking  for  the 
benefit  of  anglers  who  possess  more  or  less 
skill  in  working  with  edged  tools. 

The  army  of  young — and  other — men  who 
are  fond  of  doing  things  themselves  is  very 
large,  and  growing.  To  them  this  book  may, 
I  trust,  prove  to  be  helpful. 

Parts  of  *'  Rodmaking  for  Beginners "  are 


10  FOREWORD 

included  in  this  volume.  Acknowledgment  is 
made  to  the  publishers  of  Forest  and  Stream 
and  Field  and  Stream  for  permission  to  reprint 
In  this  volume  parts  of  articles  which  appeared 
in  those  publications. 

The  Author. 
ORidgewood,  N.  J.,  April,  19 14. 


AMATEUR  RODMAKING 


CHAPTER   I 

A  REVIEW  OF   FISHING  ROD   HISTORY 

WHEN  we  speak  of  fishing  rods  to-day, 
reference  is  invariably  made  to  those 
rods  that  consist  of  two  or  three 
parts  fitted  with  splices  or  ferrules  for  greater 
convenience  in  carrying  to  and  from  the  fish- 
ing grounds. 

Without  question  the  best  rod  is  one  made 
of  a  single  piece,  or  of  strips  rent  and  glued, 
but  with  no  joint  or  ferrule  to  interfere  with 
its  resilience  and  action. 

That  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  carry  a  full 
length  rod  on  trains  and  in  other  conveyances 
IS  obvious;  hence  the  skill  of  amateur  and  pro- 
fessional rodmakers  is  constantly  directed  to- 
ward the  task  of  making  the  two  or  three 
joint  rods  as  nearly  perfect  in  every  way  as  is 
possible  under  the  circumstances.  That  they 
succeed  very  well  indeed  is  evident  in  the  beau- 
tiful rods  now  used  in  fishing  and  in  tourna- 
ment casting. 

For  several  centuries  all  of  the  best  fishing 
13 


14       AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

rods  were  made  in  Great  Britain.  There  solid 
wood  rods  were  the  favorites;  in  fact — ^with 
the  exception  of  rods  made  with  spliced  cane 
and  whalebone  tips — the  only  rods  used  until  a 
comparatively  short  time  ago,  when  the  rent 
and  glued  cane  rods  invented  and  made  by 
Americans  were  adopted  abroad.  Even  to- 
day solid  wood  rods  are  extensively  used  in 
Great  Britain.  Their  manufacturers  have 
never  been  very  successful  in  competing  with 
the  best  American  hexagonal  split  bamboo  rods, 
and  some  of  their  fly-rods  are  made  up  from 
split-and-glued  material  purchased  in  the 
United  States  and  sold  as  English  rods. 
High  grade  American  split  bamboo  rods,  too, 
are  well  known  and  liked  over  there. 

Hickory  has  been  largely  used  in  England 
for  parts  of  medium  and  heavy  fly-rods,  the 
material  being  shipped  from  the  United  States 
and  Canada  in  billet  form.  Other  materials 
are:  Ash,  lancewood,  whalebone  and  cane 
combined;  ash  and  lancewood  in  combination; 
willow,  blue  mahoe,  washaba  (our  bethabara), 
whole  cane,  greenheart,  and  greenheart  and 
whole  cane  combined.  For  a  number  of  years 
greenheart  alone,  or  greenheart  in  combina- 
tion with  whole  cane,  was  a  standard  rod  ma- 
terial there,  but  this  is  of  comparatively  recent 
adoption,  as  angling  writers  of  fifty  years  ago 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      15 

seldom  refer  to  greenheart.     Alfred  Ronalds, 
writing  in  1836,  said: 

"  The  best  materials  are,  ash  for  the  stock, 
lancewood  for  the  middle,  and  bamboo  for  the 
top." 

Mr.  Ronalds  had  in  mind  the  whole  bamboo 
which,  according  to  later  writers,  was  first  im- 
ported into  England  by  army  officers  returning 
from  India.  They,  however,  looked  on  it  with 
favor  because  it  was  ideal  for  lances,  and  per- 
haps their  preference  for  the  thick-walled 
canes,  now  called  *'  male  "  bamboos,  led  to  the 
belief  that  was  prevalent  for  many  years,  that 
this  was  better  for  rodmaking  purposes  than 
the  thin-walled  *'  female  "  canes.  Exhaustive 
tests  with  scientific  instruments  have  proved 
the  thin-walled  bamboo  better  for  the  pur- 
pose. 

Theophilus  South,  in  his  "  Fly-Fisher's  Text 
Book"  (London,  1845),  prefers  ash  to  willow 
for  butts,  hickory  for  middle  joints,  and  favors 
tips  made  from  lancewood,  cane,  and  whale- 
bone, spliced  together — four  and  even  five 
pieces  in  a   tip. 

The  African  greenheart,  obtainable  in  the 
yards  of  the  importers  in  Stanley  Road,  Liver- 
pool, is  probably  much  better  material  for  fish- 
ing rods  than  the  greenheart  sold  in  the  United 
States,  which  comes  from  various  places  in  the 


16      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

tropics.  That  which  comes  through  Liverpool 
is  picked  over  by  the  British  buyers,  and  our 
importers  must  take  what  is  left.  This  prob- 
ably accounts  for  the  growing  scarcity  of  first 
class  greenheart.  Not  a  few  of  our  rodmakers 
decline  to  guarantee  this  material,  which  is  most 
excellent  for  the  purpose  when  it  is  good. 

Early  fishing  rod  materials  in  the  United 
States  were:  Ash  and  lancewood  in  combina- 
tion; hickory,  mahoe,  greenheart,  washaba 
(bethabara),  snakewood,  beef  wood,  cedar, 
osage  orange,  shadblow,  Ironwood,  dagama, 
peppercane,  Calcutta  bamboo,  our  Southern 
canes,  jucara  prieto,  and  many  others. 

Years  ago  it  became  a  common  practice  to 
saw  or  rive  strips  of  wood,  plane  these  square, 
glue  four  pieces  together  and  plane  round  to 
form  rod  joints.  The  belief  was  that  joints  so 
made  were  much  stronger  and  less  likely  to 
break  than  would  be  the  case  with  a  joint  made 
from  a  single  piece  of  wood.  This  method 
was  followed  by  splitting  strips  of  bamboo, 
planing  two  sides  of  each  strip  and  glueing  four 
of  them  together  to  form  a  joint,  then  planing 
the  latter  round.  This  was  made  possible  by 
placing  the  enamel  side  of  the  bamboo  within 
the  strip,  as  shown  by  the  shaded  lines  In 
Fig.  I. 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      17 


Fig.  I. 


Fig.  2. 


The  enamel  surface  being  slightly  convex,  it 
was  difficult  to  work  and  glue  these  strips  to 
form  nice  joints,  and  this  method,  which  seems 
to  be  ideal  in  other  respects,  gave  way  to  one 
in  which  the  enamel  was  placed  on  the  outside, 
and  the  section  made  almost  octagonal  in  form 
by  means  of  planing  off  the  corners,  as  shown 
by  the  dotted  lines  in  Fig.  2.  This  method  is 
still  followed  to  a  certain  extent  by  amateurs 
in  making  tips,  and  for  the  beginner  at  split 
bamboo  rodmaking,  it  has  many  points  of  ex- 
cellence. The  principal  ones  are  that  it  is 
easier  to  make  a  joint  of  four  than  six  pieces, 
and  if  these  are  carefully  fitted,  glued  and  var- 
nished, a  fairly  good  rod  is  the  result. 

It  is  possible  the  manufacture  of  these  four- 
strip  rods  of  solid  wood  or  cane,  and  the  diffi- 
culty in  keeping  water  out  of  them  with  the  in- 


18       AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

ferlor  glue  and  varnish  then  available,  resulted 
in  the  method  often  followed  of  winding  joints 
solidly  with  silk  thread  or  narrow  silk  tape. 
This  made  the  rod  soft  or  logy  and  was  dis- 
carded finally,  to  be  revived  in  recent  years, 
and  again  discarded. 

The  four-section  cane  rods  gave  way  to  six- 
strip  rods,  and  these  are  here  to  stay.  They 
have  been  used  successfully  for  the  past  genera- 
tion and  have  outlived  their  offshoots,  the  eight- 
strip,  the  seven-strip,  and  the  steel-centered 
single  and  double-built  rods,  showing  that  they 
are  based  on  very  sound  principles. 

It  is  the  belief  among  rodmakers  that  in  a 
hexagonal  rod  the  upper  and  the  lower  strips 
are  called  upon  to  perform  the  greater  part  of 
the  work  of  casting  and  playing  a  fish,  but  the 
strain  on  the  upper  strip  is  supported,  not  by 
the  lower  strip  alone,  but  by  the  three  lower 
strips,  as  shown  in  Fig.  3. 

When  the  greatest  strain  falls  on  the  lower 
strip,  the  three  upper  strips  support  it,  as  pic- 
tured in  Fig.  4.  This  seems  to  be  borne  out 
by  the  fact  that  in  tournament  casting — the 
hardest  work  a  fly-rod  is  called  upon  to  per- 
form— it  frequently  occurs  that  the  lower  strip 
is  fractured,  but  the  strength  of  the  rod  is  but 
little  impaired,  and  turning  the  rod  so  that  the 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      19 


Fig.  3. 


Fig   4. 

break  comes  on  the  side  leaves  it  in  good  shape 
for  further  use,  if  the  point  where  the  strip  is 
fractured  be  wound  with  silk  and  varnished. 
Our  English  friends,  not  satisfied  with  plain 


20      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

hexagonal  split  cane  rods,  have  resorted  to 
double  built  rods,  to  steel  cores,  and  to  wind- 
ing in  double  spiral  form  with  ribbons  of  steel, 
but  while  these  methods  are  moderately  suc- 
cessful with  them,  the  result  is  to  overload  the 
rod,  making  it  top-heavy  or  logy.  Sectional 
views  of  these  are  shown  in  Figs.  5  to  9, 
inclusive. 


Fig.  5. 
Frederic  M.  Halford,*  In  his  book,  "  Dry- 
Fly  Fishing"  (London,  1902),  says  of  Amer- 
ican fly-rods  that,  judging  from  those  he  has 
seen,  they  ''  are  too  whippy  for  our  insular 
Ideas  and  seem  generally  to  lack  backbone. 
They  are  also  rather  light  In  the  point,  the 
effect  of  which  Is  to  render  It  difficult  If  not 
Impossible  to  recover  a  long  line  with  them. 
The  fashion  of  the  present  day  Is  to  use  a  rod 
that  Is  slightly  top-heavy,  and  although  this  Is 
more  trying  on  the  wrist,  yet,  considering  all 
points,  Is  a  fault  the  right  way." 

*Since  the  above  was  written  Mr.  Hal  ford  has  passed 
away.     His  loss  is  keenly  felt  by  anglers  everywhere. 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      21 


Octagonal    Cane    Rod  Nonagonal    Cane    Rod. 

Both  Steel  Center  and  Double  Built. 
Fig.  6. 

His  preference  then  was  for  a  rod  9  J^  to  1 1 
feet  long,  so  it  must  be  assumed  that  he  re- 
ferred to  American  rods  of  light  weight.  This 
seems  to  be  true,  for  he  quotes  Francis  Francis, 
who,  in  his  '*  Book  on  Angling,"  told  of  making 
a  cast  of  twenty-six  yards  with  a  loj^-foot 
rod.  No  American  five-ounce  rod  of  the  pres- 
ent time  would  be  accepted  as  a  gift  if  it  failed 
to  lay  out  seventy-eight  feet,  and  the  average 
six-ounce  rod,  in  the  hands  of  an  angler  of  or- 
dinary skill,  will  send  the  fly  yards  further,  if 
the  need  arises. 

Mr.  Halford  says  there  are  only  three  ma- 
terials worth  considering:  split  cane,  green- 
heart,  and  whole  cane,  in  the  order  given. 
Aside  from  its  fault  of  occasionally  snapping 
off  short,  he  likes  greenheart,  but  gives  double 
enamel  split  cane  the  preference. 


22       AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


Fig.  7.— Steel-Ribbed  Split-Bamboo  Rod. 

I  quote  Mr.  Halford  at  some  length,  for  of 
all  modern  English  angling  literature  his  books 
on  **  Dry-fly  Fishing,"  **  Dry-fly  Entomology  " 
arid  others,  and  his  numerous  papers  on  angling 
are,  to  me  at  least,  the  most  impressive.  Among 
other  things,  his  clearness  of  expression  and  his 
habit  of  giving  more  than  full  credit  to  his 
friends  for  angling  hints  show  his  sincerity  and 
fairness. 

But  Mr.  Halford  has  no  patience  with  steel- 
centered  rods;  in  fact,  he  says  that  the  contro- 
versy in  the  English  press  anent  the  inventor  of 
the  method  was  a  waste  of  ink  and  paper,  as 
steel-centered  rods  were  of  no  practical  use. 
**  Consider,"  says  he,  *^  the  effect  of  rigidly  fas- 
tening the  two  materials  together.  The  one 
with  the  quicker  action  must  of  necessity  tend 
to  hurry  the  slower  material,  and  the  one  with 
the  slower  action  must  equally  of  necessity  tend 
to  retard  the  action  of  the  quicker  material. 
What  must  be  the  effect?  A  tendency  to  dis- 
integrate their  union.  For  me,"  he  continues, 
**  they  have  not  cast  better;  they  have  not  cast 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      23 


Fig.  8. — Eighteen- Strip  Rod. 

— TT 


\ 


Fig.  9.— Method  of  Forming  Each  of  the  Three-Piece 
Strips. 

more  easily;  they  have  not  cast  more  accurately, 
than  the  ordinary  split  cane  by  the  same  maker. 
They  are  certainly  more  tiring  to  the  wrist,  and 
when  killing  a  fish  I  do  not  think  that  they  give 
any  real  accession  of  power." 

In  1889  Hardy  Brothers  employed  an  engi- 
neer who  tested  specimens  used  in  rodmaking. 
All  were  24  inches  long,  .32  of  an  inch  in  diam- 


24      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

eter  for  round  rods,  and  .16  of  an  inch  on 
each  side  of  the  triangular  sections  of  glued- 
up  hexagonal  rods.  The  tests  were  for  resili- 
ence, deflection,  number  of  vibrations  before 
coming  to  rest  with  various  weights,  specific 
gravity,  and  breaking  strain.  The  best  results 
obtained,  in  the  order  given,  follow:  Double 
enamel  glued  cane,  steel  centered;  double  enam- 
el glued  cane;  hexagonal  glued  cane,  steel  cen- 
tered; hexagonal  glued  cane;  greenheart,  built 
up ;  hickory,  built  up ;  round  greenheart ;  lance- 
wood. 

In  theory  at  least  it  would  seem  that  in  a  rod 
wound  with  narrow  steel  wires,  these  would 
constantly  shift  with  the  spring  of  the  rod,  re- 
laxing in  hot  weather  and  contracting  on  cold 
days,  the  general  effect  being  to  shear  windings 
and  varnish,  and  to  rust.  Certain  it  is  that  one 
of  the  British  firms  which  adopted  steel  rib- 
bing some  years  ago,  now  advocates  a  braided 
silk  sheath  to  cover  the  steel. 

A  Frenchman  has  made  rods  in  which  flat 
steel  strips  have  been  let  into  the  wood,  and 
my  impression  is  that  a  British  manufacturer 
has  adopted  the  invention. 

Some  years  ago  a  Scotchman  invented  a 
similar  method,  but  he  used  fine  piano  wires 
instead,  one  being  let  into  each  of  the  six  strips 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      25 

and  wound  with  silk.  Unfortunately  he  died 
before  succeeding  in  his  efforts  to  interest  a 
manufacturer  in  his  work. 

In  America  not  much  attention  has  been  paid 
to  steel  centers  or  steel  whipping  for  rods.  One 
firm  makes  a  steel  center  rod,  and  another  one 
at  one  time  wound  both  wood  and  split  bam- 
boo rods  with  copper  or  bronze  ribbons  in  much 
the  same  manner  employed  abroad  in  winding 
with  double  spirals  of  steel.  I  have  fished  with 
one  of  these  metal-whipped  rods,  and  must  say 
it  has  merit,  for  with  it  a  fly  can  be  cast  very 
prettily,  and  it  is  no  doubt  strong,  but  to  one 
accustomed  to  an  ordinary  split  bamboo  it  has 
an  action  which,  while  pleasant,  is  peculiarly 
its  own.  Without  wishing  to  disparage  these 
methods  of  strengthening  rods,  for  my  own  use 
I  prefer  plain  whipping  with  narrow  bands  of 
fine  silk  at  intervals  of  three-fourths  to  one  and 
one-half  inches,  and  believe  these  are  suflicient 
for  any  rod  of  the  class  generally  made  in  the 
United  States. 

As  previously  stated,  attempts  to  strengthen 
rods  by  winding  them  solidly  with  silk  have 
been  made  here  during  the  last  half  century, 
but  while  it  is  claimed  for  these  rods  that  they 
seldom  break  and  will  withstand  severe  strain, 
I  would  not  advise  the  amateur  to  attempt  solid 


26       AMATEUR    RODMAKING 

winding.  Rods  wound  solidly  with  silk  on  a 
machine  are  bound  in  all  places  with  equal 
pressure,  and  if  this  winding  gives  strength,  as 
claimed,  the  strengthening  medium  is  uniform. 
In  winding  by  hand  you  will  at  first  lay  the  silk 
on  with  the  greatest  tension  you  can  exert,  but 
it  is  tedious  work,  and  after  a  few  minutes  your 
fingers  will  begin  to  cramp  and  ache  and  you 
Will  wind  less  carefully.  When  you  stop  to 
rest  the  tension  is  relaxed,  then  you  resume 
with  vigor,  and  so  on  until  the  long  contract 
is  finished.  The  result  must  be  that  the  silk  Is 
wound  so  tight  in  places  that  it  will  cut  into  the 
wood  when  the  preserving  medium  causes  it  to 
shrink;  elsewhere  there  will  be  loose  spots,  fol- 
lowed by  tight  places — anything  but  uniform 
winding,  giving  you  a  soft  rod. 

In  this  way  you  may  defeat  your  purpose, 
yet  never  know  where  the  real  fault  lies.  Ten 
to  one  the  wood  will  be  given  the  blame,  as 
being  poor,  and  you  may  try  the  same  thing 
with  another  rod,  to  be  again  disappointed. 

It  can  be  said  with  perfect  safety  that  six- 
strip  split  bamboo  is  to-day  the  favorite  fishing 
rod  material  in  the  United  States.  More  rods 
of  this  sort  are  used  in  fly-and  bait-casting  for 
fish  and  in  tournaments  than  all  other  mate- 
rials combined.    They  are  even  replacing  solid 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      27 

wood  to  a  certain  extent  in  salt  water  fishing. 
Many  great  factories  have  been  working  stead- 
ily to  their  full  capacity  for  several  years,  turn- 
ing out  split  bamboo  rods  for  the  markets  of 
the  world,  and  the  best  of  them  have  been  for 
a  long  time  and  are  now  far  behind  with  their 
orders.  It  is  a  good  trade,  that  of  a  first  class 
fishing  rod  maker;  one  in  which  steady  employ- 
ment is  certain. 

While  our  British  friends  are  still  experi- 
menting with  rod  materials,  using  cane  and 
wood  and  steel  in  combination,  our  makers  are 
plodding  along  with  their  work,  turning  out  the 
best  split  bamboo  rods  the  world  has  ever 
known,  and  satisfying  their  patrons.  In  years 
they  have  not  added  to  their  rods  any  features 
of  startling  importance,  but  they  have  instead 
constantly  endeavored  to  produce  perfect  rods, 
until  to-day  their  best  rods  are  indeed  works  of 
art,  yet  powerful  and  durable  withal. 

Only  one  change  from  the  regulation  six-  and 
eight-strip  rods  is  prominent.  This  is  a  method 
patented  several  years  ago  by  the  late  Fred  D. 
Divine,  consisting  in  twisting  the  six  strips 
slightly  while  the  glue  is  still  fresh,  so  that  the 
joints  are  spiral,  the  theory  being  that  a  rod  so 
treated  is  stiffened  and  that  the  work  does  not 
fall  on  the  upper  and  lower  strips  alone,  but 


28      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

on  each  one  of  the  six.  The  method  is  highly 
spoken  of  by  anglers,  and  I  myself  have  used 
such  a  rod  with  pleasure  and  satisfaction.  At 
one  time  I  tested  two  fly-rods  that  were  exactly 
alike  in  length,  caliber,  and  weight,  one  spiral, 
the  other  plain  six-strip.  They  were  held  on  a 
table  side  by  side  while  a  half-ounce  weight  was 
suspended  from  each  tip.  The  spiral  rod 
sagged  very  little,  whereas  the  other  drooped 
four  inches  lower. 

The  steel  rod,  that  has  become  so  popular  in 
the  Middle  West  and  South  for  hard  use,  is 
now  often  employed  in  bait-casting. 

On  salt  water  bethabara,  ash  and  lancewood, 
dagama,  lancewood  and  greenheart  are  the  fa- 
vorite materials,  although,  as  stated  above,  split 
bamboo  is  coming  into  more  general  use. 

In  fly-casting  there  has  been  very  little  change 
in  types  of  rods  during  recent  years,  but  in 
bait-casting  a  complete  change  has  taken  place, 
and  to-day  the  bait-caster's  methods  are  more 
nearly  like  those  of  the  fly-caster's  than  ever 
before,  in  that  both  use  artificial  lures  in  prefer- 
ence to  live  bait  wherever  success  is  at  all  pos- 
sible. Both  are  working  toward  finer  tackle 
and  are  following  more  sportsmanlike  methods 
in  fishing  as  a  pastime. 

Until  quite  recently  angling  for  game  fish  in 


FISHING  ROD  HISTORY      29 

fresh  waters  consisted  in  casting  the  fly;  in  cast- 
ing with  medium  weight  rods  and  minnows  or 
other  live  bait,  sometimes  attached  to  a  spoon 
or  spinner;  in  still-fishing  with  minnows,  worms, 
grubs,  or  other  insects ;  in  trolling  with  live  or 
artificial  lures.  There  were  other  forms,  but 
these  will  suffice  for  the  present.  Nearly  all 
rods  were  long  and  heavy.  In  order  to  make 
one  of  these,  skill  of  no  mean  order  was  re- 
quired, and  amateurs  who  made  attempts  were 
more  often  disappointed  than  satisfied. 

Then  came  the  change  in  the  methods  of 
using  the  bait-casting  rod.  Extremists  went 
from  rods  of  eight  and  nine  feet  to  those  of 
sixj  five,  four,  even  less  than  four  feet  in  length, 
but  as  time  passed  and  experience  has  been 
gained,  many  of  them  have  settled  on  five  and 
one-half  or  six  feet  as  a  very  satisfactory  length 
for  the  superb  little  rods  with  which  they  cast 
a  long  line  and  some  form  of  artificial  lure, 
using  a  free-running  multiplying  reel. 

It  is  possible  to  make  these  rods  as  light  and 
almost  as  graceful  as  the  trout  fly-rods.  Angle 
woims  and  live  minnows  and  doodlebugs  are 
no  longer  considered  necessary  by  way  of  lure, 
and  the  methods  of  the  bait-caster  may  be  made 
as  cleanly  and  as  skillful  as  those  of  his  brother 
of  the  fly-rod. 


CHAPTER   II 

FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS 

THERE  are  many  anglers  who  are  fond 
of  doing  things  themselves,  and  to  such 
of  them  as  fancy  bait-casting,  the  Idea  of 
making  their  own  rods  appeals  strongly.  And 
while  it  is  beyond  most  of  them  to  make  a 
passable  rod  nine  feet  in  length,  such  as  was 
used  years  ago,  there  are  very  few  persons  pos- 
sessed of  ordinary  skill  who  cannot  make  a 
short  rod  of  the  type  that  is  popular  to-day. 

To  give  assistance  to  those  who  would  like 
to  try  this  fascinating  pastime  is  the  purpose 
of  this  book.  I  disclaim  any  scientific  knowl- 
edge in  the  art.  Rather,  I  have  simply  plodded 
along  at  the  work,  making  mistakes  and  cor- 
recting them,  doing  things  topside  down,  per- 
haps, as  a  professional  rodmaker  might  say, 
but  attaining  the  end  sought,  after  a  fashion, 
in  time. 

During  the  past  decade  I  have  made  almost 
every  type  of  rod,  and  have  worked  split  bam- 
boo   dagama,  lancewood,  hickory,  ash,  green- 

30 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    31 

heart,  washaba  (bethabara),  jucara  prieto,  and 
other  materials,  but  in  no  part  of  my  rodmak- 
ing  have  I  had  any  better  facilities  for  working 
rapidly  and  easily  than  the  average  busy  man 
commands,  hence  I  feel  confident  in  telling  the 
novice  how  he  can  do  this  and  that  part  of 
the  work,  for  I  am  giving  the  results  of  my 
own  experience,  backed  by  the  sage  advice  of 
some  of  the  best  known  professional  and  ama- 
teur rodmakers  and  anglers,  to  many  of  whom 
I  am  greatly  indebted  for  friendly  criticism  in 
my  efforts  to  assist  beginners. 

One  thing  which  this  slow  and  methodical 
hand  work  has  taught  me  is  this :  To  take  ad- 
vantage of  everything  which  will  simplify  the 
work  of  rodmaking  and  finishing.  I  would 
have  you  bear  this  in  mind  in  reading  the  chap- 
ters that  are  to  come.  Some  of  my  methods 
may  seem  clumsy  to  those  of  you  who  have 
access  to  machine  tools,  or  who  may  have  been 
advised  by  professional  rodmakers;  but  the 
average  beginner  at  rodmaking  will  work  with 
even  poorer  facilities,  perhaps,  than  I  have 
commanded,  and  for  him  the  methods  described 
may  be  of  some  value.  Above  all  things  I  wish 
to  make  all  steps  plain  and  simple.  They  are 
not  scientific,  but  are  practical. 

It  Is  folly  for  the  beginner  to  attempt  to 


32      AMATEUR   ROOM  AKIN  G 

make  his  first  rod  of  split  bamboo,  or  even  to 
obtain  glued-up  stock  and  fit  it.  Instead,  he 
should  obtain  that  material  which  is  easiest  to 
manipulate,  and  carry  the  work  through  to 
some  sort  of  conclusion.  Then,  and  only  then, 
will  he  master  the  first  step  in  rodmaking  and 
begin  to  realize  how  easy  and  yet  how  difficult 
it  is  to  make  a  good  rod. 

Without  question  split  bamboo  is  the  best 
material  known  to-day.  If  you  can  obtain  the 
material  in  butts,  joints,  and  tips,  glued-up,  so 
that  the  **  making  "  consists  merely  in  finishing 
it  and  fitting  hand-grasp,  ferrules,  and  trim- 
mings, if  care  is  exercised  a  very  good  rod  will 
be  the  result.  But  I  would  strongly  advise  the 
novice  not  to  attempt  to  make  a  split  bamboo 
rod  complete;  at  least  not  until  he  has  had 
ample  practice  in  making  all-wood  rods.  In- 
stead, pay  a  visit  to  some  professional  rod- 
maker,  if  this  be  possible,  at  a  time  when  he  is 
making  split  bamboo  rods,  and  ask  permission 
to  watch  him  at  work  for  a  little  while.  If  you 
do,  my  word  for  it,  you  will  go  away  a  wiser 
if  not  a  sadder  man,  for  you  will  be  convinced 
that  you  lack  the  skill  necessary  to  finish  the  six 
slender  strips  and  fit  them  together  perfectly, 
even  if  you  can  secure  bamboo  that  will  prove 
to  be  worth  cutting  up. 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    33 

This  IS  one  of  the  difficulties  encountered  in 
rodmaking,  for  not  all  of  the  material  that 
looks  good  will  be  worth  the  labor  of  cutting. 
I  know  one  old  rodmaker  who,  on  splitting  out 
his  material,  tests  each  slender  strip  by  bend- 
ing until  the  ends  meet,  then  examining  the 
circlet  for  weak  spots,  and  if  any  appear  he 
smashes  the  whole  piece  and  tries  again — a 
severe  test,  but  one  that  will  show  defects  be- 
fore further  labor  is  wasted.  Not  that  this  is 
the  correct  test,  but  it  is  one  of  several,  the 
most  important  one  being  an  examination  based 
on  long  experience. 

Some  of  the  best  rodmakers  will  supply  you 
with  glued-up  butts  and  joints,  and  if  you  are 
determined  to  make  your  first  rod  of  this  ma- 
terial, select  these  somewhat  longer  than  the 
joints  of  your  rod-to-be,  so  that  you  can  pick 
out  the  best  part  of  each  piece  when  you  come 
to  fitting  the  ferrules.  Take  only  hand-made 
stock,  for  machine  made  material  is  not  always 
worth  using;  much  depends  on  how  carefully 
the  stock  is  selected.  The  hand-made  stock  will 
cost  more  than  you  anticipate,  but  It  Is  much 
cheaper  In  the  end.  If  glued-up  split  bamboo 
IS  to  be  the  material,  the  method  of  perform- 
ing the  different  parts  of  the  fitting  will  be  the 
same  as  described  further  on  for  all-wood  rods. 


34      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

Next  to  split  bamboo  in  the  woods  easily  ob- 
tainable in  the  open  market  comes  washaba,  or, 
as  it  is  known  in  the  trade,  bethabara.  This 
is  a  heavy  wood,  but  it  is  nicely  adapted  to 
short  bait-casting  rods,  and  one  can  be  made  to 
weigh  five  to  six  and  one-half  ounces,  and  very 
slender,  that  will  be  exceedingly  powerful  and 
full  of  ginger.  Bethabara  slightly  resembles 
butternut  or  a  light  grade  of  black  walnut  in 
color;  with  this  exception,  that  when  freshly 
sawed  the  surface  is  covered  with  greenish 
yellow  dust,  very  heavy  and  a  bit  sticky  to  the 
touch,  giving  one  the  impression  that  the  wood 
has  been  sprinkled  with  yellow  ochre.  The 
wood  being  so  hard,  the  rough  saw  marks  hide 
the  grain,  and  it  is  difficult  to  tell  a  good  piece 
from  a  bad  one.  Look  closely  at  all  sides,  or 
better,  scrape  two  sides  until  the  grain  will 
show,  and  if  there  are  any  knots  or  if  the 
corners  show  splinters  that  may  be  broken  off 
short,  discard  it  and  look  further.  Pound  the 
sticks  smartly  on  the  floor  and  examine  for 
worm  holes,  which,  although  very  small,  are 
fatal  to  good  material. 

I  have  said  that  the  wood  shows  dust  of  a 
greenish-yellow  color,  but  this  seems  partially 
absent  in  some  bethabara.  I  prefer  the  grade 
which  shows  this  characteristic,  and  which  the 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    35 

English  rodmakers  call  green  washaba ;  but  the 
brown  washaba,  the  grade  that  does  not,  is 
much  harder  and  has  a  closer  and  longer  grain 
in  the  perfect  pieces,  although  it  seems  more 
difficult  to  get  perfect  pieces  in  this  grade. 
Hence  It  is  well  to  stick  to  the  green  or  dusty 
grades,  which  run  nice  as  a  rule  and  can  be 
planed  from  both  ends  and  on  all  sides  with 
impunity.  Some  dealers  sell  other  varieties  of 
imported  woods  for  bethabara,  and  some  try 
to  supply  very  poor  greenheart  instead;  but  reli- 
able men  may  be  depended  on  to  give  you  what 
you  ask  for. 

The  fine  shavings  from  bethabara  are  so 
wiry  and  tough  that  a  handful  of  them  can  be 
used  for  a  long  time  in  polishing  finished  joints. 
They  cling  together  totally  unlike  those  from 
greenheart,  which  are  short  and  very  brittle. 

Bethabara  logs  are  sawed  into  planks  which 
go  to  the  rodmakers  in  thicknesses  of  seven- 
eighths  of  an  inch,  sometimes  more.  Generally 
the  lumbermen  cut  logs  into  pieces  seven- 
eighths  by  one  inch  and  three  feet  long,  but  you 
can  get  other  lengths.  These  pieces  must  be 
ripped.  If,  however,  they  will  cut  the  material 
to  your  order,  it  will  be  well  to  have  the  butt 
five-eighths  of  an  inch  and  the  tips  three-eighths 
for  a  two-piece  rod.     There  is  a  good  deal  of 


36      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

cutting  before  you  can  be  satisfied  with  the 
squared  stock;  and  another  thing,  you  must  de- 
cide which  end  of  your  stock  is  to  be  the  butt, 
or  large  end,  before  you  begin  the  work  of 
tapering. 

There  are  two  or  three  peculiarities  about 
this  wood  that  will  astonish  you  at  first.  Stock 
that  is  cut  thin  may  be  very  crooked.  I  have 
worked  pieces  so  crooked  that  it  seemed  a  waste 
of  time  to  do  anything  with  them,  but  after 
they  were  finished  and  the  rod  hung  up  by  the 
top  on  a  brad  driven  into  the  wall,  all  the  kinks 
soon  disappeared  and  the  rod  became  as 
straight  as   a   perfect   arrow. 

This  method  of  straightening  is  advisable 
with  any  rod,  and  especially  tips.  Where  rods 
are  put  away  in  tackle  cabinets  or  closets,  with 
all  parts  tied  up  in  a  cloth  partition  case,  it 
very  often  happens  that  one  of  the  strings  of 
the  case  is  tied  more  securely  than  the  others, 
thus  bending  the  tips  slightly;  and,  if  left  in  this 
shape  for  long,  with  perhaps  some  heavy  object 
resting  against  all,  a  very  crooked  rod  may  be 
taken  out  later  on.  Even  standing  joints  on 
the  floor  with  the  tops  resting  against  the  wall 
may  warp  them.  Better  hang  tips  up,  and  the 
whole  rod,  too,  if  practicable.  Dealers  who 
handle  the  finest  wood  rods  often  suspend  them 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    37 

all  from  the  tops  In  cases  made  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

Bcthabara  as  a  rule  does  not  warp  or  take 
set  easily,  but  cut  any  wood  into  thin  strips  and 
throw  it  about  and  it  will  warp  out  of  shape. 
Varnish  puts  an  end  to  this,  as  it  prevents 
rapid  changes  of  temperature  from  affecting 
the  wood  easily. 

In  preparing  to  work  bethabara,  put  on  a 
pair  of  overalls  or  a  long  apron.  The  dust  is 
very  penetrating  and  somewhat  sticky,  and 
there  is  an  oily  substance  that  adheres  to  the 
edge  of  the  plane,  dulling  it  until  removed. 
Wash  your  hands  with  soap  and  water,  and  you 
will  be  surprised  to  see  the  water  turn  a  deep 
salmon  color,  and  the  lather  from  the  soap  just 
like  so  much  red  paint.  No  stain  need  be 
feared,  however,  although  old  rodmakers  tell 
me  that  after  continued  working  of  this  wood, 
their  hair  takes  on  a  slight  pinkish  shade,  due, 
evidently,  to  the  action  on  the  bethabara  dust 
on  the  alkali  in  the  soap. 

Dagama  In  perfect  pieces  Is  even  more  easily 
obtainable  than  bethabara,  and  of  all  the  rod 
materials  known  I  strongly  advise  the  beginner 
to  make  his  first  rod  of  dagama.  He  will  have 
less  difficulty  In  working  It,  Is  more  likely  to  get 
first-class  stock  of  nice  straight  grain,  and  it 


38       AMATEUR    RODMAKING 

win  give  him  good  satisfaction.  Having  in 
mind  the  disappointing  experiences  I  had  in  my 
first  attempts  to  work  bethabara,  due  for  the 
most  part  to  poor  material,  I  asked  several  of 
the  best  known  firms  of  rodmakers  for  their 
opinions,  and  these  agreed  perfectly  with  my 
own,  which  is  that  while  first-class  bethabara 
will  give  better  satisfaction,  dagama  of  good 
quality  is  more  easily  obtained,  can  be  worked 
to  better  advantage  by  the  novice,  and  will 
make  a  good  rod. 

Dagama  comes  from  Cuba  and  is  rather 
common.  The  tree  grows  to  a  height  of  forty 
or  fifty  feet  and  has  few  branches.  As  a  rule 
it  comes  in  billets  six  or  seven  feet  long,  split 
from  the  log,  but  as  these  are  not  expensive, 
the  novice  who  expects  to  make  two  or  three 
rods  can  use  the  best  part  of  a  billet  to  advan- 
tage. The  wood  is  rather  white  when  first 
split,  but  exposure  to  the  air  turns  it  pale  yel- 
low and  it  darkens  slightly  when  made  up  into 
rods.  It  resembles  lancewood  so  closely  that 
unless  pieces  of  both  are  placed  side  by  side  it 
is  difficult  to  tell  which  is  which.  Its  grain  is 
closer  and  straighter  than  that  of  lancewood, 
however,  and  it  has  none  of  the  pins  or  knots 
that  characterize  lancewood  and  make  that 
wood  so  unsatisfactory  to  work.     Dagama  is 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    39 

light,  stiff,  and  elastic,  breaks  with  a  long,  splin- 
tering fracture,  somewhat  like  hickory,  is  easy 
to  work  with  or  across  the  grain,  and  may  be 
highly  polished.  Ferrules  slightly  larger  than 
those  used  on  bethabara  will  answer. 

It  has  been  said  that  dagama  is  at  its  best  in 
a  moist  climate,  and  is  therefore  peculiarly 
adapted  to  use  on  salt  water;  that  it  becomes 
somewhat  **  brash"  in  dry  climates,  like  hick- 
ory. I  regret  that  my  personal  experience  with 
the  wood  is  confined  to  regions  near  the  sea 
level,  and  that  I  cannot  affirm  or  deny  this 
statement.  Hickory,  I  know,  although  exceed- 
ingly tough  and  resilient  as  a  rule,  failed  com- 
pletely when  used  for  the  long  whip  stocks  of 
the  old-time  stage  coach  and  army  ambulance 
drivers  in  the  dry  regions  of  the  Southwest. 
Although  soaked  with  oil,  they  were  totally  un- 
reliable after  drying  out,  and  would  snap  short 
off  like  reeds.  Bait-casting  rods  are  not  used 
in  such  dry  regions  as  a  rule,  but  along  the 
Pacific  coast,  it  seems,  bethabara  gives  better 
satisfaction  than  either  greenheart  or  dagama. 
The  best  fishing  is  in  the  dry  season  there. 

The  late  Henry  P.  Wells  was  one  of  the  first 
angling  writers  to  mention  dagama,  and  he 
praised  it  very  highly,  both  in  the  first  edition 
of  his  "  Fly-Rods  and  Fly  Tackle,"  which  was 


40      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

published  in  1885,  ^^d  in  the  second  edition, 
which  appeared  in  1901.    Of  dagama  he  said: 

**  Compared  with  a  stick  of  approved  green- 
heart  of  equal  size  the  dagama  showed  no  in- 
feriority that  I  could  detect,  while  it  was  cer- 
tainly much  lighter.  ...  I  have  made  and 
used  several  rods  made  of  dagama,  and  have 
seen  many  made  by  others.  If  well  selected 
and  well  seasoned,  as  a  rod  wood  it  is  difficult 
to  equal,  much  less  excel,  as  far  as  my  experi- 
ence goes.  It  is  very  strong,  very  elastic,  con- 
siderably lighter  than  any  wood  I  know  of 
which  has  equal  strength,  and  works  with  a 
keen  tool  in  a  way  that  is  simply  a  delight.'* 

The  late  John  Harrington  Keene  favored 
four  varieties  of  wood  for  rods,  after  split 
bamboo.  These  were  snakewood,  lancewood, 
greenheart,  and  bethabara.  Snakewood,  in  his 
opinion,  was  the  best  where  weight  was  not 
important,  as  for  bait-casting  rods.  "  It  is," 
said  he,  *'  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  woods 
to  work  that  I  know,  cutting  smoothly  and 
without  apparent  grain,  and  coming  out  from 
the  plane  with  a  surface  like  ivory  for  smooth- 
ness. Greenheart  is  a  much  harsher  wood  to 
work,  but  if  the  tool  is  keen  it  works  fairly  well. 
For  fly-rods  it  is  one  of  the  best  woods  I  know, 
being  of  medium  weight  and  great  stiffness." 


FISHING  ROB  MATERIALS    41 

Of  dagama  Mr.  Keene  said:  "While  It  is 
tough,  it  lacks  the  rigidity  of  lancewood  and  is 
inferior  to  it  for  rodmaking.  Lancewood, 
which,  if  well  selected,  is  a  most  desirable  wood 
for  rods,  is  one  of  the  easiest  woods  to  work, 
has  little  visible  grain  and  cuts  smoothly." 

It  seems,  however,  that  Mr.  Keene's  opin- 
ion of  split  bamboo  changed  after  he  came  to 
the  United  States  to  live,  for  when  he  wrote 
*'  Fishing  Tackle,  Its  Materials  and  Manufac- 
ture "  (London,  1886),  he  said:  "  The  jungle 
canes  are  of  Asian  growth,  and  are  chiefly  util- 
ized for  the  glued-up  cane  rods  which  are  so 
popular — rather  undeservedly,  I  think." 

At  that  time  Mr.  Keene  pronounced  green- 
heart  *'  the  very  best  all  round  material  for  all 
the  joints  except  the  butt  of  fishing  rods  of 
whatsoever  description." 

Curiously  enough,  he  says  "  the  beautifully 
mottled  appearance  of  a  well  finished  cane  rod 
is  produced  by  staining  the  wood  with  aqua 
fortis  and  nut  galls.  The  stain  is  burned  in 
immediately  it  is  put  on."  Evidently,  if  this 
was  true,  the  rodmakers  of  that  time  used  other 
canes  and  attempted  in  this  way  to  imitate  the 
Calcutta  canes. 

Lancewood  is  used  more  than  any  other 
material   for  all-wood   rods   in  America,    al- 


42       AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

though  it  does  not  seem  to  be  very  much  used 
abroad  at  present.  In  England  greenheart  is 
more  of  a  favorite,  but  over  there  more  atten- 
tion is  given  to  combinations  than  here.  For 
example,  hickory  is  frequently  used  for  butt 
joints  in  high  grade  rods,  whereas  on  this  side 
of  the  water  it  is  put  into  the  cheapest  ones.  Imi- 
tations of  bethabara,  stained,  and  for  spring 
butts  of  surf  rods.  Over  there,  too,  whole  cane 
butts  and  even  middle  joints,  with  greenheart 
tips,  are  common,  while  as  a  rule  we  stick  to 
one  material  throughout  the  rod. 

Lancewood  is  more  easily  obtainable  than 
bethabara.  The  latter  comes  from  Africa  by 
way  of  Liverpool,  whereas  lancewood  in  large 
quantities  is  brought  up  to  New  York  by  the 
coastwise  vessels  trading  in  Southern  waters. 
It  costs  less  than  bethabara,  and  is  much  easier 
to  work.  It  Is  not  so  heavy  as  bethabara.  In 
the  rough  it  Is  easier  to  select  good  stock  than 
is  the  case  with  bethabara.  But  It  Is  *'  softer" 
and  more  resilient  In  equal  diameters,  and  has 
not  the  steely  snap  and  quick  recovery  that 
characterize  the  other  variety  mentioned.  In 
addition  to  this  it  Is  prone  to  take  set;  In  other 
words,  to  warp  permanently,  and  this  fault  b 
more  marked  on  damp  than  on  dry  days. 

There  are  so  many  varieties  of  wood  avail- 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    43 

able,  and  all  more  or  less  excellent  for  rods, 
that  the  beginner  may  be  tempted  to  try  others 
than  those  recommended.  But  my  advice  is 
that  he  confine  his  first  experiments  to  either 
dagama  or  bethabara.  Then,  after  he  has 
acquired  some  knowledge  of  squaring,  round- 
ing, and  finishing  solid  wood,  and  fitting  hand 
grasps,  ferrules  and  tops,  he  may  feel  safe  in 
making  a  split  bam.boo  rod,  since  this  will  be 
the  goal  of  his  ambition. 

Good  Calcutta  bamboo  is  very  difficult  to 
obtain.  Japanese  bamboo  is  inferior  to  it,  and 
I  would  not  advise  its  use.  Nearly  all  of  the 
Calcutta  bamboos  are  marked  with  alternate 
bands  or  patches  of  natural  and  scorched 
enamel.  Two  varieties  are  commonly  known. 
The  so-called  *^  male "  bamboo  has  thicker 
walls  than  the  *'  female "  and  is  generally 
chosen  for  this  reason.  Careful  experts  tell 
us,  however,  that  in  this  thick-walled  bamboo 
the  strength  diminishes  more  rapidly  from 
enamel  surface  to  hollow  center  than  in  the 
thin-walled  bamboo.  The  enamel  or  rind  is 
tough  and  hard.  Under  this  the  cells  increase 
rapidly  in  size  and  their  walls  diminish  in 
strength,  the  inner  part  being  more  pith-like 
than  in  the  thin-walled  bamboos,  whose  cells 
are  smaller  and  their  walls  stronger. 


44      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

Various  reasons  are  given  to  account  for  the 
burning  of  the  bamboos  by  the  natives  of  India. 
The  late  Henry  P.  Wells,  who  studied  the  ques- 
tion carefully,  gives  six  reasons,  as  follows :  A 
religious  ceremony;  roasted  over  a  gridiron  to 
kill  borers;  also  to  burn  off  adhering  leaves  and 
vines;  for  ornamental  purposes;  accidentally 
burned  in  firing  jungles  to  destroy  creeping 
vines;  seared  with  hot  irons  in  straightening. 
He  leaves  it  to  his  readers'  fancy  to  decide. 

J.  J.  Hardy,  himself  a  rodmaker,  in  his 
"  Salmon  Fishing,"  says  the  natives  lay  the 
more  crooked  canes  in  fires  made  of  grass  and 
leaves,  to  soften  before  attempting  to  straighten 
them.  "While  this  firing  doubtless  solidifies 
the  sap  and  hardens  the  cells  greatly,"  he 
writes,  "  it  destroys  fully  50  per  cent,  of  the 
bamboos  for  rodmaking  by  burning  through 
parts  of  the  outer  skin,  the  effects  of  which 
may  be  seen  in  the  very  dark  blotches.  Where 
this  appears  the  material  is  worthless,  all  the 
original  structure  having  been  destroyed.  It 
has  been  very  difficult  to  persuade  the  natives 
to  adopt  special  methods  of  heating  for  the 
purpose  of  straightening,  in  order  to  avoid  this 
everburning;  but  it  is  satisfactory  to  know  that 
better  methods,  under  strict  supervision,  are 
now  being  employed."     Mr.  Hardy  says  it  is 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    45 

not  unusual  to  split  up  thirty  to  fifty  culms  and 
test  the  strips  before  sufficient  good  material 
for  an  1 8-foot  salmon  fly-rod  is  obtained. 

The  bamboos  obtainable  are  generally  i^ 
to  ij/2  Inches  in  diameter  at  the  large  end  and 
only  four  or  five  feet  of  each  one  can  be  used 
to  advantage. 

Tonkin  canes  come  from  the  province  of  that 
name  in  French  Indo-China,  on  the  Gulf  of 
Tonkin,  an  arm  of  the  China  Sea.  Probably 
most  of  them  are  cut  in  the  valleys  of  the  Black 
and  Red  rivers,  which  lie  due  east  of  Mandalay 
in  Burma,  and  as  Calcutta  and  Tonkin  canes 
grow  in  the  same  latitude,  this  may  account  for 
the  belief  held  by  some  that  Tonkin  canes  equal 
Calcutta  bamboo  for  rodmaking  purposes.  It 
is,  however,  a  fact  that  very  few  professional 
rodmakers  will  admit  that  anything  can  equal 
first  class  Calcutta  canes.  A  veteran  says  one 
reason  why  he  is  inclined  to  use  Tonkin  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  good  Calcutta  canes  are  very 
difficult  to  obtain,  and  with  them  there  is  so 
much  waste. 

Many  of  the  Tonkin  canes  furnish  thicker 
material  than  the  other  variety,  and  if  properly 
seasoned  and  selected,  make  excellent  fly-  and 
bait-casting  rods.  Few  of  them  are  burned, 
which  furnishes  another  reason  for  their  popu- 


46      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

larity.  Some  are  stained  unevenly  before  they 
are  split,  and  when  the  strips  are  matched  and 
glued  these  mottled  places  appear  here  and 
there  on  the  rod,  giving  the  effect  that  Is  so 
pleasing  to  anglers  of  the  old  school  who, 
through  custom,  prefer  the  mottling  to  the 
white  enamel  of  unburned  canes.  The  staining 
is  a  harmless  process,  and  may  be  produced  in 
several  ways. 

Tonkin  differs  materially  from  Calcutta. 
The  nodes  or  knots  are  smaller  and  less  trouble- 
some, and  In  the  rough  beveling  you  can  plane 
through  the  knots  with  safety.  This  cane  Is 
much  coarser  than  Calcutta,  harder,  and  In 
breaking  a  strip  the  surface  gives  way  In  long 
splinters,  leaving  softer  pith  strata  which  are 
tough  but  not  springy.  Because  of  Its  greater 
stiffness  It  Is  used  for  tournament  rods.  It  re- 
sembles somewhat  our  Southern  canes,  but  Its 
surface  Is  darker  and  the  fibers  reddish.  It  Is 
harsh  and  glassy,  soon  dulls  the  edge  of  the 
plane,  and  must  be  handled  carefully  or  the 
hands  will  be  cut  and  scratched. 

It  does  not  follow  that,  because  some  rods 
are  made  with  double  enamel.  It  Is  the  better 
method.  If  first  class  bamboo  Is  used,  and  the 
strips  are  well  made  and  perfectly  fitted,  noth- 
ing can  surpass  the  plain  hexagonal  rod;  but 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    47 

the  difficulty  of  obtaining  good  bamboo  is  great 
and  is  increasing,  and  it  is  not  always  possible 
to  get  material  thick  enough  to  make  perfect 
triangular  sections  without  resorting  to  the 
double  enamel  process  in  butts  and  joints. 
Many  rods  are  now  made  the  centers  of  which 
are  hollow  because  of  this  difficulty  of  getting 
material  thick  enough  to  make  all  strips  per- 
fectly triangular  in  section. 

In  an  attempt  to  choose  between  double 
enameled  hexagonal  bamboo  and  octagonal 
bamboo,  the  former  may  safely  be  given  pref- 
erence. In  an  octagonal  rod  the  butt  and  mid- 
dle joint  are  stronger,  provided  the  caliber  is 
large,  but  eight-strip  tips  consist  of  so  much 
glue  and  so  little  cane  that  they  will  not  with- 
stand so  much  hard  usage  as  will  the  six-strip 


Fig.   10. 
Dotted  lines  show  section  for  double  enamel  hexagonal 
rods. 


cane,  and  frequently  give  way  at  the  ferrules, 
particularly  If  the  parts  are  carelessly  twisted. 


48      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

On  the  other  hand,  the  gluing  of  double 
enamel  hexagonal  strips  Is  partially  protected 
from  moisture,  and  if  properly  made  a  double 
enamel  rod  is  strong  and  powerful.  Besides, 
this  method  is  a  simple  one,  and  double  enamel 
strips  are  easily  made  in  several  ways,  the 
common  form  being  to  plane  two  strips  of  rec- 
tangular section,  glue  them  together  and  then 
file  as  in  a  single  strip;  the  other  to  make  a 
strip  of  triangular  section,  then  plane  off  the 
apex  of  the  triangle,  glue  another  strip  to  the 
base,  and  file  this  down. 

In  Fig.  lo  the  dotted  lines  show  the  form 
of  the  completed  section,  and  the  shaded  lines 


Fig.   II. 
As  finished  sections  of  double  enamel  strips  appear. 

the  enamel.     In  Fig.   ii,  ^  is  the  outer  strip 
with  apex  of  triangle  planed  off ;  b,  second  strip 


FISHING  ROD  MATERIALS    49 

glued  to  a;  dotted  lines  c  indicate  section  of 
finished  strip. 

The  specific  gravities  and  weight  of  various 
woods  mentioned  are  given  by  Mr.  Wells  as 
follows,  the  standard  being  distilled  well  water : 

Snakewood    1.3718  85.74 

Bethabara    1.2140  75-88 

Greenheart   (dark) 1.0908  68.18 

Jucara  prieto i  .08  67.30 

Lancewood    i .  0335  65 .  49 

Six    strip    split    bamboo 9915  61.96 

Four  strip  split  bamboo,  enamel  inside     .9678  60.49 

Greenheart    (light)     9643  60.26 

Dagama    90  56.10 

Hickory 7963  49-77 


CHAPTER   III 

MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING  MATERIALS 

WHAT  shall  the  handgrasp  be — solid 
cork  or  a  form  wound  with  cord? 
Simplicity,  effectiveness,  and  economy 
point  to  cork.  This  statement  may  surprise 
you,  but  it  is  true.  Cork,  seemingly  difficult  to 
work,  only  requires  proper  treatment,  and  with 
It  the  weight  of  the  rod  can  be  kept  down. 

The  cork  companies  in  New  York,  Pitts- 
burgh, and  Chicago  will  furnish  handgrasps  to 
order  ready  to  slip  over  a  solid  center.  These 
are  made  either  of  solid  cork  discs  or  of  suberit, 
a  composition  of  ground  cork  and  cement.  They 
will  also  furnish  corks  similar  to  those  used  In 
vaseline  bottles  and  one-half  inch  thick,  at 
about  seven  cents  per  dozen  for  the  best  qual- 
ity. I  generally  purchase  four  dozen  at  a  time, 
costing  twenty-five  cents,  and  select  the  best 
ones  for  use.  The  ij4  ^^^  i^-inch  sizes  are 
best  for  rod  grasps.  Some  tackle  dealers  now 
keep  rodmaking  supplies  in  stock,  and  will  sup- 
ply partly  finished  handgrasps. 

50 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING   51 

Wood  forms  for  handgrasps  can  be  pur- 
chased from  rodmakers  in  various  lengths 
and  sizes,  with  either  single  or  double  grasp, 
and  with  a  hole  of  any  size  desired  bored  clear 
through.  They  cost  twenty  to  forty  cents.  If 
you  can  have  access  to  a  lathe,  however,  it 
will  be  a  pleasure  to  turn  your  own  handgrasps 
from  staghorn  sumach,  which  you  can  obtain 
in  almost  any  thicket  during  a  walk  in  the 
country;  or  white  pine.  Bore  the  hole  first, 
fit  a  plug  in  this,  center  the  ends,  and  shape 
the  outside  to  suit,  bearing  in  mind  that  the 
cord  to  be  wound  on  will  increase  the  diam- 
eter about  1-16  inch. 

Cord  for  this  purpose  is  obtainable  from 
fishing  tackle  dealers.  Light  green  braided 
cotton  cord  looks  nice  when  varnished,  and 
makes  a  good  firm  grasp,  but  it  is  inferior  to 
cork. 

All  ferrules,  reelseats,  tapers,  and  buttcaps 
should  be  German  silver.  These  cost  a  trifle 
more  than  brass  nickeled,  but  they  are  harder, 
stronger,  and  more  durable.  Besides,  nickel 
glitters  while  German  silver  tarnishes  just 
enough  to  become  slightly  dull,  but  is  not  in- 
juriously affected  by  the  presence  of  chemicals 
in  the  water. 

There  are  only  three  types  of  ferrules  that 


52       AMATEUR    EODMAKING 

merit  the  consideration  of  the  beginner.   These 
are: 

I.  For  split  bamboo  rods,  welted  and 
capped  (or  shouldered)  ferrules,  with  the 
caps  serrated  so  that  the  silk  may  be  wound 
over  the  springy  saw-tooth  like  ends  illus- 
trated  In    Fig.    12.      The    reference    letter    a 


i»ig/>/"      JBuiJiim 


Fig   12. — Serrated    Ferrules. 

shows  the  welted  end  of  the  ferrule,  which 
protects  and  strengthens  It;  &  Is  the  cap  or 
shoulder,  which  Is  turned  down  slightly  at  c 
to  permit  winding  with  silk,  which  should  ex- 
tend i-i6  Inch  beyond  the  flexible  serrated 
ends  d  and  bind  the  ferrule  rigidly  on  the 
wood;  e  Is  the  center,  or  slide.  The  caliber  of 
a  set  of  ferrules  Is  taken  at  the  the  point  Indi- 
cated by  this  letter.  The  outside  diameter  of 
the  center  at  e  Is  exactly  the  same  as  the  in- 
side diameter  of  the  ferrule. 

2.    Capped    and   welted    ferrules    with   the 
caps  split  and  also  turned  down  slightly  for 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    53 

winding,  as  illustrated  in  Fig.  13.     The  refer- 


Mm^hM^^'' 


miiim 


%'""        W     ,1 


Fig.   13. — Split   Ferrules. 

ence  letter  /  shows  the  capped  ends  turned 
down  so  that  the  cap  and  the  silk  winding  will 
be  the  same  diameter.  This  end  is  split  in 
several  places  with  a  very  fine  saw,  so  that  the 
silk  will  bind  the  ferrule  in  the  same  manner 
as  with  serrated  ferrules. 

These  split  ferrules  are  excellent  for  split 
bamboo  rods,  or  in  fact  for  any  rods,  and  they 
are  often  preferred  to  serrated  ferrules.  If 
anything  they  are  neater.  They  can  be  pur- 
chased of  the  trade,  but  any  amateur  who  can 
work  metal  handily  can  make  them  from  plain 
capped  ferrules. 

3.  Capped  and  welted  ferrules  are  of  the 
same  form  as  the  two  mentioned  above,  but 
the  caps  are  plain,  as  shown  in  Fig  14. 

In  all  carefully  made  German  silver  fer- 
rules the  outside  diameter  of  the  female  fer- 
rule at  gf  (Fig.  14)  is  identical  with  the  inside 
diameter  of  the  cap  at  h.    This  is  a  help  to  the 


54      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

novice  In  tapering  his  joints.  This  also  applies 
to  the  center.  In  purchasing  ferrules  always 
specify  ^'  capped  and  welted  ferrules,  closed- 
end  centers."     Some  of  the  centers   are  left 


Fig.    14. — Plain    Capped    and   Welted   Ferrules. 

open  at  the  bottom,  which  is  necessary  when 
dowels  are  to  be  put  in. 

I  have  given  preference  to  capped  ferrules 
for  the  reason  that  they  are  better  for  the 
novice  to  work  with  than  straight  ferrules.  By 
straight  ferrules  I  mean  those  in  which  the 
female  is  a  true  cylinder  inside  and  out.  Many 
serrated  and  split  ferrules  are  made  straight, 
but  if  they  are  not  to  be  fastened  with  pins, 
they  may  be  set  too  far  down  on  the  wood 
and  work  loose  more  easily  if  the  cementing  is 
imperfectly  done.  It  is  possible  to  obtain 
straight  ferrules  which  are  shorter  than  those 
that  are  capped.  For  three-joint  rods  less 
than  six  feet  in  length,  by  using  short  straight 
ferrules,    you    can    slightly    lessen    the    total 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    55 

length  of  metal  in  the  rod,  and  if  it  is  to  be 
quite  willowy,  they  are  excellent  for  the  pur- 
pose. Specify  either  **  welted  straight  fer- 
rules "  or  **  welted  short  straight  ferrules  "  in 
ordering,  but  in  either  case  add  *'  capped 
closed-end  centers.''  The  use  of  straight  cen- 
ters will  spoil  the  taper  at  the  joint. 

Dowels  should  be  avoided  by  beginners. 
The  plain  ferrules  have,  through  long  use, 
been  proved  fully  equal — and  in  the  opinion 
of  most  anglers,  actually  superior — to  dow- 
eled ferrules,  even  for  heavy  salt  water  and 
salmon  rods.  In  this  opinion  I  do  not  concur 
with  respect  to  very  heavy  rods,  in  which  there 
is  abundant  space  for  the  dowel  without  weak- 
ening the  wood  at  all.  For  small  caliber  rods, 
however,  the  dowel  has  no  advantage  over  the 
plain  ferrule.  Few  amateurs  can  hope  to 
properly  fit  doweled  ferrules  to  a  rod,  the  ef- 
fect being  rather  to  weaken  than  to  strengthen 
it.  The  intricate  parts  of  the  old-fashioned 
doweled  ferrules  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  15. 

Every  ferrule  should  be  fitted  with  a  metal 
plug,  to  keep  out  the  dust  while  it  is  in  its 
case. 

Waterproof  ferrules  are  well  worth  their 
slight  extra  cost.  In  these  a  metal  disc  is 
brazed  or  soldered  in  the  ferrule,  to  prevent 


56      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


Fig.    15. — Sectional    View    of    Doweled    Ferrule. 

water  from  getting  Into  the  wood  or  bamboo. 

In  purchasing  a  reelseat  It  Is  necessary  to 
decide  whether  the  rod  Is  to  consist  of  one 
piece;  of  a  tip  and  a  separate  handgrasp;  or 
of  two  or  three  joints  of  equal  length;  and  In 
any  case  whether  the  grasp  Is  to  be  single  or 
double. 

If  the  rod  Is  to  be  one  piece,  or  If  the  hand- 
grasp  Is  to  be  fitted  direct  to  the  butt  of  a 
two-  or  a  three-piece  rod,  and  Is  to  be  single, 
the  reelseat  should  be  like  that  pictured  In 
Fig.  16. 

If  the  handgrasp  is  to  be  single  and  sepa- 
rate, then  the  ferrules  shown  In  Fig.  17  will 
be  needed.  Of  these,  the  center  goes  on  the 
large  end  of  tip  and  the  ferrule  fits  Into  the 
tapered  end  of  the  reelseat  (Fig.  16).  The 
method  of  fitting  will  be  described  further  on. 

If  the  handgrasp  Is  to  be  double,  then  the 
reelseat  Is  ordered  without  the  tapered  end, 
and  a  separate  taper  Is  required.      (See  Fig. 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    57 

1 8.)  The  ferrules  shown  in  Fig.  17  can  also 
be  used  In  connection  with  this  reelseat  (Fig. 
18),  as  will  be  explained  in  the  proper  place. 

For  all  single-hand  fly-  and  bait-casting  rods 
reelseats  of  three-quarter  inch  diameter  are 
standard,  and  seven-eighths  or  one  inch  for 
medium  weight  salt  water  and  salmon  rods. 
In  ordering  reelseats,  the  diameter  of  the  small 
end  of  the  taper  must  be  specified.  Generally 
these  are  15-32,  ^  inch,  17-32,  and  19-32  of 
an  inch. 

Reelseats  for  fly-rods  are  like  Fig.  18,  with 
the  exception  that  the  bottoms  are  closed.  For 
this  purpose  the  taper  is  generally  narrower. 


Fig.  16.— Reelseat  for  a  Single  Handgrasp. 


I 


H(llfHW«\  miKliwuu 


Fig.   17. — Ferrules   for  a   Separate   Handgrasp. 


58      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


Fig.  i8. — Reelseat  and  Taper  for  a  Double  Handgrasp. 

Stock  buttcaps  are  generally  of  }i  inch  di- 
ameter at  the  large  end.  For  bait-casting  rods, 
which  should  have  rather  full  grasps,  one  inch 


Fig.  19. — Agate  Guide. 


Fig.    20. — One-ring    Ger- 
man   Silver   Guide. 


is  a  better  diameter.  I  like  the  small  hard  rub- 
ber buttons  made  for  tarpon  rods,  and  hollow 
these  out  so  that  they  fit  as  a  buttcap.  They 
can,  however,  be  fitted  flush  against  the  cork  of 
the  handgrasp  without  hollowing,  and  fastened 
on  end  of  grasp  with  a  screw. 

For  light  bait-casting  rods  It  is  nice  to  use 


Fig.   21. — Agate   Offset   Top. 

a  full  set  of  agate  guides  and  an  agate  top, 
but  if  this  increases  the  cost  too  much  use  an 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    59 

agate  top  and  an  agate  guide  nearest  the  reel, 
with  one-ring  German  silver  guides  for  the  bal- 
ance of  the  set.  There  was  a  time  when  It  was 
believed  that  large  guides  and  tops  were  best, 
but  it  is  now  conceded  that  guides  and  tops  of 
a  caliber  of  5-16  inch  are  large  enough,  safer, 
and  neater.  There  can  be  no  question  that 
large,  heavy  guides  afEect  the  action  of  the 
rod.  The  agate  guide  shown  in  Fig.  19  and 
the  one-ring  German  silver  guide  pictured  in 
Fig.   20  have  proved  as  good  as  any  so  far 


Fig.  22. — Hard  Steel  Snake  Guide  for  Fly-rod. 

used.  They  are  light,  strong,  and  efficient. 
The  caliber  of  both  is  5-16  inch. 

By  all  means  employ  an  agate  offset  top 
made  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  21.  In  this  there 
IS  a  wire  extending  from  the  tube  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  metal  ring  holding  the  agate,  while 
the  two  side  wires  prevent  the  line  from 
catching  around  the  top,  and  strengthen  it. 
The  tube  may  be  tapered  or  cylindrical. 

For  fly-rods  the  best  guides  are  of  hard  steel, 
snake  form,  as  shown  in  Fig.  22.  These  can 
be  had  in  various  sizes  in  the  trade.  In  Fig. 
23  a  steel  top  for  fly-rods  is  shown.     In  this 


60      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

the  ring  is  of  the  same  form  as  the  agates  used 
for  the  same  purpose,  but  the  steel  ring  is 
made  loose  enough  to  turn  in  the  wire  that 
holds  it,  in  order  that  it  will  not  wear  from 
the  constant  friction  of  the  line.  The  wires 
are  lashed  to  the  rod  tip  with  silk.  The  form 
shown  in  Fig.  24  differs  only  in  that  these  wires 
terminate  in  a  tube.  Wires  and  tube  are  Ger- 
man silver. 

For  guides  and  tops  of  fly-rods  German  sil- 
ver is  too  soft  and  is  soon  cut  in  grooves  by 
the  friction  of  the  line.  Any  mechanic  can 
make  these  loose  steel  tops,  or  they  can  be  pur- 
chased from  the  importers.  Agate  or  steel 
tops,  and  steel  guides,  are  necessary  for  tour- 
nament fly-rods.  The  hand  guide  should  be 
agate,  steel,  or  phosphor  bronze,  as  during  the 
constant  stripping  in  and  shooting  of  the  line 
It  is  held  at  an  angle  to  the  rod,  causing  con- 
siderable friction  and  wear  on  the  first  or  hand 
guide. 

Novices  who  have  access  to  machine  tools 
can  make  guides  and  tops  for  both  fly-  and 
bait-casting  rods  of  hard  steel  and  of  the  form 
shown  in  Figs.  19-24,  inclusive.  Steel  is  in 
every  way  adapted  to  guides  and  tops,  and  if 
neatly  made  they  are  light,  strong,  and  dur- 
able.    Many  novices  make  all  of  their  rod  fit- 


MOUNTINGAND  FINISHING    61 

tings,  and  some  of  these  are  the  best  I  have 
ever  seen.  Being  unable  to  purchase  steel  tops 
for  my  single-hand  and  salmon  fly-rods,  I  per- 
suaded a  fellow  angler  to  make  several  steel 
tops  for  me,  and  these  have  proved  very  satis- 
factory In  tournament  casting,     He  has  also 


Fig.    23.— Steel     Fly-rod 
Top,  with  Loose  Ring  and         Fig.    24. — Steel    Fly-rod 
Wires.  Top,    with    Tube. 

made  steel  guides  and  tops  for  all  his  fly-  and 

bait-casting  rods,  and  his  work  shows  what  a 

novice  can  do  if  he  has  access  to  machine  tools. 

I  prefer  phosphor  bronze  for  the  fly-rod  tops. 

Agates  are  too  easily  broken. 

Perhaps  the  best  glue  for  use  in  the  making 
of  split  bamboo  rods,  and  for  gluing  corks  and 
forms  for  handgrasps,  is  French  glue,  obtain- 
able in  paint  shops.  Place  the  glue  pot  in  a 
kettle  of  water  over  a  slow  fire.  The  glue  pot 
should  have  wire  legs  or  be  elevated  slightly, 
else  it  will  rest  on  the  bottom  of  the  kettle 
and,  the  water  being  excluded  from  under  the 
glue  pot,  the  glue  will  burn. 

Russian  isinglass  is  also  very  good,  but  it 
should  not  be  used  a  second  time.  Instead, 
clean  the  pot  and  prepare  fresh  glue  each  time 


62      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

it  is  to  be  used.  Russian  isinglass  is  colorless 
and  for  this  reason  is  used  in  glass  signs  and 
metal  work  where  other  substances  would 
show.  Purchase  an  ounce  of  It  and  try  it  be- 
fore deciding  to  adopt  it.  It  costs  about  forty 
cents  an  ounce,  but  this  quantity  will  be  suffi- 
cient for  several  rods. 

Much  depends  on  how  glue  is  prepared  and 
used.  I  prefer  Coignet  No.  i,  the  best  French 
glue,  soaking  it  overnight  in  cold  water,  then 
using  it  very  hot  but  thin.  It  sets  very  quickly 
but  is  not  brittle.  Like  all  amateur  rodmakers, 
I  have  made  mistakes  in  handgrasps,  etc.,  and 
have  tried  to  rectify  them  by  heating,  steam- 
ing, or  soaking  them,  to  separate  the  parts  so 
that  changes  might  be  made.  It  is  at  such  times 
that  one  learns  with  what  obstinacy  glue  will 
resist  attempts  to  separate  parts  joined  with  It. 
I  have  soaked  a  cork  handgrasp  for  three 
hours  In  steaming  hot  water,  without  making 
the  slightest  Impression  on  the  glue,  and  have 
experimented  with  ordinary  glue  and  prepared 
cements,  all  of  which  resisted  severe  treatment 
in  a  manner  that  surprised  me. 

There  are  several  prepared  cements  that  are 
excellent  and  cheap.  All  should  be  warmed, 
say  In  a  cup  of  hot  water.  Most  of  them  can 
be  thinned  with  vinegar.     They  are  perhaps 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    63 

inferior  to  the  commercial  glues  that  are 
soaked  and  prepared  fresh  each  time  they  are 
to  be  used,  but  their  handiness  appeals  to  the 
novice. 

Much  depends  on  how  the  glue  dries  in  split 
bamboo.  It  should  not  become  brittle  -and 
break  when  the  rod  springs,  nor  be  too  sensi- 
tive to  moisture. 

Ferrules  can  be  seated  with  shellac,  glue,  or 
various  cements.  I  have  found  the  cement 
known  as  Hercules  very  satisfactory.  It  is 
obtainable  in  the  trade  in  twenty-five  cent  sticks. 
A  very  good  article,  known  as  the  Fishing 
Gazette  ferrule  cement,  can  be  made  as  follows : 

Clear  rosin,  i  ounce;  boiled  linseed  oil,  I 
teaspoonful;  gutta  percha,  i  drachm.  Melt 
together,  pour  into  water,  and  pull. 

I  have  used  silk  wax  with  satisfaction  made 
after  a  formula  given  by  the  late  John  Har- 
rington Keene.     It  is  as  follows: 

Best  yellow  rosin,  2  ounces;  white  beeswax, 
sliced,  I  drachm. 

Dissolve  by  slow  heat  and  add  2>^  drachms 
fresh  unsalted  lard.  Stir  for  ten  minutes,  pour 
into  water,  and  pull.  It  is  to  be  wrapped  in  a 
bit  of  chamois  skin  and  kept  out  of  the  dust. 

In  this,  as  in  the  ferrule  cement,  it  is  well  to 
rub  your  hands  slightly  with  vaseline  before 


64       AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

taking  the  wax  out  of  the  cold  water,  as  other- 
wise it  will  adhere  to  the  fingers  at  first. 

Another  formula,  which  is  recommended  by 
Colonel  R.  F.  Meysey-Thompson,  in  his  "  An- 
gling Catechism,"  follows: 

Powdered  white  rosin,  gum  arabic,  and  lano- 
line,  one  part  each;  or  two  parts  rosin  and 
no  gum  arabic.  Simmer  together  until  melted, 
add  a  few  drops  of  essence  of  lemon,  pour  into 
cold  water,  pull  and  roll  until  of  the  proper 
consistency,  when  it  can  be  cut  into  cakes  and 
wrapped  in  chamois  skin.  If  too  soft,  add 
rosin;  if  too  hard,  add  lanoline.  Obviously 
it  must  be  kept  free  from  dust. 

The  best  colorless  substance  obtainable  for 
use  in  waxing  silk  thread  for  winding  rods  or 
making  artificial  flies  is  mentioned  by  the  late 
Harry  G.  McClelland  in  his  excellent  little 
book  "  The  Fly-dresser's  Cabinet  of  Devices." 
It  is  made  by  melting  together  equal  parts 
(bulk)  of  amber  rosin  and  turpentine  and  pour- 
ing into  collapsible  metal  tubes  such  as  artists 
use.  When  a  thread  is  to  be  waxed,  a  little  of 
the  liquid  is  squeezed  out  of  the  tube  on  the  fin- 
ger and  thumb,  between  which  the  thread  is 
passed  several  times.  The  surplus  wax  is  then 
removed  from  the  fingers  with  a  drop  of  tur- 
pentine.   Fly-tyers  use  this  liquid  in  preference 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    65 

to  the  silk  wax  mentioned  above,  as  the  latter 
is  more  likely  to  get  hard  and  brittle  in  time 
through  exposure  to  the  air,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
keep  it  clean  and  colorless. 

You  will  need  a  small  bottle  of  the  best  grain 
alcohol  shellac  for  coating  all  silk  windings  to 
preserve  their  original  color.  This  is  not  to  be 
used  on  the  rod  proper,  however. 

The  best  varnish  I  have  ever  used  on  rods 
of  all  kinds  is  known  as  extra  light  coach.  It 
comes  in  cans  of  all  sizes  fitted  with  air  tight 
tin  caps.  It  is  better  to  get  the  smallest  size, 
one-half  pint,  as  when  repeatedly  exposed  to 
the  air  it  dries  slowly  unless  thinned  with  tur- 
pentine, and  this  color  makers  invariably  ad- 
vise you  not  to  do,  as  the  thinning  agency 
detracts  from  its  good  qualities.  Instead  it 
should  be  heated  in  a  vessel  of  hot  water.  This 
varnish  is  elastic,  does  not  crack,  and  dries 
quickly  with  a  beautiful  gloss  if  used  while 
quite  warm. 

Spar  varnish  is  also  good,  but  several  coats 
of  it  are  required,  it  lacks  luster,  and  dries 
slowly  unless  exposed  to  sun  and  wind. 

Purchase  a  three-quarter  inch  oval  or  flat 
brush  of  good  quality  for  the  varnish,  and  a 
thin,  round  artist's  brush  for  the  shellac.  Both 
should  be  washed  carefully  immediately  after 


66      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

being  used  In  hot  water  and  soap,  then  dried 
and  laid  away  out  of  the  dust. 

Amateur  fishing  rod  makers  experience  dif- 
ficulty in  obtaining  silk  of  suitable  sizes  for 
winding  their  rods.  Those  who  live  In  small 
towns  can  only  obtain  size  A  or  larger,  which 
Is  too  coarse  for  fly-rods  and  for  the  slender 
bait-casting  rods  used  so  much  In  bass  fishing 
and  In  tournament  casting.  No  silk  finer  than 
A  Is  carried  by  dry  goods  firms,  but  In  this 
size  every  Imaginable  color  and  shade  may  be 
had. 

To  be  sure,  some  of  the  fishing  tackle  deal- 
ers carry  O  and  OO  In  red,  green,  yellow  and 
black;  but  if  one  is  particular  and  asks  for  a 
certain  shade,  the  dealer  does  not  always  have 
It,  and  the  next  shade  may  prove  disappointing 
if  you  happen  to  have  part  of  your  winding 
finished  and  desire  a  shade  that  will  match 
nicely.  The  wholesale  silk  houses  will  not  sell 
to  an  individual  In  small  lots  as  a  rule,  although 
they  may  sometimes  condescend  to  let  him  have 
a  given  number  of  spools.  No  amateur  could 
possibly  use  a  quantity  of  silk,  even  If  he  were 
to  wind  every  one  of  his  rods  solidly  with  it, 
and  after  several  disappointments  he  Is  likely 
to  fall  back  on  A,  even  If  It  does  finish  up  In 


MOUNTING  AND  FINISHING    67 

lumps  and  welts  that  are  not  in  keeping  with 
the  careful  work  he  has  put  on  the  other  de- 
tails of  his  rod. 

There  is  one  advantage  in  size  A,  however: 
every  little  store  handling  dry  goods  carries  all 
colors  and  every  shade  that  will  match  dress 
goods  of  silk,  cotton,  or  wool.  If  you  have 
never  noticed  this,  ask  a  saleswoman  for  a 
spool  of  green  silk,  and  she  Vv^Ill  show  you  a 
score  or  more,  and  every  one  a  different  shade 
of  green.  No  wonder  you  cannot  buy  silk  by 
mail  that  will  suit  you,  merely  by  naming  a 
color.  How  this  size  can  be  split  and  used 
for  all  windings  is  described  further  on. 

In  selecting  silk  there  is  always  the  tempta- 
tion to  purchase  more  than  you  can  ever  use 
or  give  away,  particularly  shades  that  will  dis- 
appoint you  if  wound  on  the  rod  and  varnished. 
There  are  certain  combinations  that  do  not 
give  the  barber-pole  effect  so  many  anglers  ob- 
ject to,  yet  are  durable  as  to  color.  Black  is  a 
hideous  color  for  a  nice  rod,  but  it  looks  well 
as  borders  for  yellow  or  orange.  Some  shades 
of  yellow  lose  all  color  under  the  varnish,  and 
cream  color  becomes  semi-transparent,  and  is 
often  employed  for  that  very  reason.  Blue, 
lilac,  and  pale  red  fade  rapidly  when  exposed 


68      AMATEUR   BODMAKING 

to  the  sun,  and  purple,  often  seen  on  some  rods, 
is  not  always  lasting.  Bright  or  flame  red  and 
medium  apple  green  are  generally  satisfactory, 
but  their  brilliancy  depends  a  great  deal  on 
what  sort  of  varnish  protects  them  from  the 
wearing  of  the  line  in  casting — particularly  on 
a  fly-rod. 

In  addition  to  the  winding  silk,  purchase  a 
tiny  spool  of  buttonhole  silk  of  any  color,  to 
be  used  in  pulling  the  ends  of  the  winding  silk 
through  and  forming  **  endless  "  windings.  Its 
use  is  explained  in  the  proper  place. 

A  spool  of  cotton  or  linen  thread  is  also 
handy  for  use  in  tying  guides  on  temporarily 
while  testing  your  rods.  If  it  is  waxed  It  will 
be  much  more  effective.  I  use  linen  for  this 
purpose,  fastening  the  guides  In  place  with  it 
while  aligning  them,  then  cutting  the  thread 
when  the  guide  Is  partly  fastened  with  silk. 


CHAPTER   IV 

TOOLS    NEEDED    IN    RODMAKING 

IN  preparing  to  make  a  fishing  rod,  after 
the  wood  and  metal  parts  have  been  ob- 
tained, the  next  thing  to  consider  is  a 
workbench.  If  one  is  not  at  hand,  and  you  do 
not  know  any  carpenter  or  mechanic  who  will 
let  you  use  his  bench  at  odd  times,  a  makeshift 
will  answer.  If  a  bit  of  plank  can  be  laid 
across  a  table  and  secured  against  wobbling, 
it  will  serve. 

Of  course  a  large  iron  vise  will  be  very  use- 
ful, but  if  this  Is  not  available,  one  of  the  little 
Iron  vises  to  be  had  in  hardware  stores  for  a 
dollar  or  less  will  answer  very  well;  in  fact, 
you  cannot  afford  to  be  without  one  If  you  are 
fond  of  making  and  repairing  small  articles. 

The  tools  you  will  require  are  few  and  sim- 
ple. At  least  two  Iron  planes  will  be  needed, 
one  of  medium  size  and  the  other  very  small, 
say  four  Inches  long,  for  finishing.  Get  a  small 
oilstone  In  a  wooden  case,  and  never  neglect 
to  clean  it  carefully  and  wrap  It  In  a  cloth  after 

69 


70      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

using  it,  as  otherwise  its  pores  will  become 
clogged  with  gummed  oil  and  dust,  rendering 
it  worse  than  useless. 

You  will  need  one  rather  coarse  flat  file,  say 
fourteen  inches  long,  and  a  fine  flat  or  three- 


Fig.    25. — Micromeetr    Caliper. 

cornered  file,  the  latter  preferred  for  split 
bamboo  work.  Also  get  a  sheet  of  fine  emery- 
cloth;  coarse,  medium,  and  fine  sandpaper;  a 
small,  thin  saw;  a  flat  steel  scraper.  A  drill 
stock  and  several  small  drills  are  always  use- 
ful. 

Calipers  of  some  sort  are  necessary.  The 
best  obtainable  is  the  micrometer  caliper  reg- 
istering thousandths  of  an  inch,  with  scales 
showing  equivalents  in  8ths,  i6ths,  32ds,  and 
64ths.  One  of  these  costs  about  $4,  but  its 
graduations  are  so  fine  that  it  is  useful  in  other 
work  as  well  as  in  rodmaking,  and  is  almost 
indispensable  for  the  angler  who  wishes  to  ob- 
tain exact  calibers  of  rods,  lines,  silkworm  gut, 
etc.  These  calipers  are  made  by  several  firms, 
and  all  are  of  the  form  illustrated  in  Fig.  25. 


TOOLS  NEEDED  71 

The  size  which  is  graduated  in  thousandths, 
and  will  take  work  up  to  an  inch  in  diameter, 
is  best  for  your  purpose. 

The  next  best  caliper  is  the  one  shown  in 
Fig.  26,  or  a  similar  device  with  sliding  arm 
and  scale  graduated  to  64ths  and  opening  two 
inches.  This  is  the  most  practical  caliper  for 
the  beginner,  as  it  is  simple  and  small.  Its 
cost  is  about  $1.50.  It  has  a  lock  nut  and  the 
reverse  side  gives  looths  of  an  inch. 

A  much  cheaper  gauge  is  made  of  brass  and 
boxwood,  similar  in  form  to  Fig.  26.     One  of 


Fig.   26. — A   Simple  Form  of   Caliper. 

these  will  answer  very  well,  although  the  grad- 
uations are  coarser  than  those  of  the  other 
calipers  mentioned. 

There  are  several  devices  that  are  used  by 
some  amateur  rod  builders  which  are  not  abso- 
lutely necessary,  but  they  are  handy  and  can 
be  made  to  take  the  place  of  calipers  at  times. 

You  will  not  make  your  rod  a  true  taper 
from  handgrasp  to  top,  but  It  will  help  you  to 
know  how  to  do  this,  for  the  tapering  of  the 


72       AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


square  stock  can  be  made  nearly  uniform  at 
first,  in  the  rough. 

Take  a  piece  of  cardboard  and  draw  two 
straight  lines  4^  inches  long,  15-32  of  an 
inch  apart  at  one  end,  and  7-64  of  an  inch  at 
the  other.  This  represents  a  uniform  taper 
from  the  handgrasp  to  the  top  of  a  5  >^ -foot 
rod.  Mark  off  spaces  every  half  inch  to  rep- 
resent every  six-inch  station  from  handgrasp 
to  top,  and  number  them  6,  12,  etc.,  up  to  54. 
The  distance  between  the  horizontal  lines  at 
every  mark  will  give  the  caliber  of  the  rod  at 
that  point;  that  is,  the  length  of  the  mark 
numbered  24  will  be  equal  to  the  diameter  of 
the  rod  24  inches  from  the  handgrasp,  if  the 


^ 


Fig.  27. — Taper  Gauge. 

taper  is  uniform.  Fig.  27  explains  the  method. 
To  make  the  diagram  handier,  let  the  horizon- 
tal lines  be  9,  18,  or  36  inches  long,  dividing 
the  total  into  nine  spaces  of  equal  length,  the 
result  being  alike  in  every  case  if  the  distances 
at  the  ends  are  exactly  what  the  rod  Is  to  be 
at  taper  and  top. 


TOOLS  NEEDED  73 

Now,  take  a  piece  of  brass  and  by  sawing 
first  and  trimming  with  a  file  afterward,  form 
a  slot  4j^  inches  deep,  15-32  inch  wide  at  the 
top,  and  7-64  inch  wide  at  the  bottom.  Every 
half  inch  scratch  a  line  across  and  mark  these 
6,  12,  etc.,  with  a  sharp-pointed  instrument. 
This  will  serve  as  a  gauge  for  uniform  taper- 
ing. 

If,  however,  you  have  decided  what  the 
caliber  of  your  rod  is  to  be  at  every  six-inch 
station,  you  can  utilize  a  piece  of  brass  with 
ten  square  notches  filed  in  its  edges,  the  largest 
being  15-32  inch  and  the  smallest  7-64,  every 
notch  to  be  equal  in  width  to  the  caliber  of  the 
rod  at  the  corresponding  station.  These  can 
be  numbered  from  6  to  54,  respectively,  in  half 
feet. 

For  smoothing  off  rough  places  on  metal  fit- 
tings, taking  the  sharp  corners  off  guides  and 
many  other  little  details,  a  fine  three-cornered 
file  will  be  very  useful.  I  prefer  the  needle  file 
because  it  will  fit  into  a  loop  in  the  cover  of 
my  fly-book,  and  it  can  be  used  in  lieu  of  a 
saw  on  occasion.  A  file  of  this  sort  is  about 
six  inches  long,  flat  on  one  side,  and  slightly 
convex  on  the  other.  Its  width  is  about  one- 
eighth  inch  In  the  center,  tapering  to  a  fine 


74      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

point.  Although  somewhat  delicate,  its  high 
tempering  prevents  frequent  breakage,  and  it 
can  be  used  on  rod  fittings  without  scratching 
more  than  with  emery  cloth. 


CHAPTER  V 

[TYPES   OF   BAIT-CASTING   RODS 

TO  some  persons  it  may  seem  that  while 
an  eleven-foot  rod  must  be  nicely  ta- 
pered and  balanced,  a  rod  only  half  as 
long,  being  more  or  less  stick-like,  if  made  a 
given  caliber,  will  answer.  Nothing  could  be 
further  from  the  truth.  While  it  is  a  fact  that 
a  rod  5^  feet  in  length  requires  less  time  and 
material  than  one  of  the  old-fashioned  long 
bait-fishing  rods,  it  must  be  even  more  care- 
fully made,  for  an  error  of  one-sixty-fourth  of 
an  inch  in  the  caliber  of  butt  or  tip  may  render 
it  comparatively  worthless.  A  mistake  in  the 
long  rod  may  be  hidden  in  its  greater  resilience, 
and  this  may  save  it,  but  reduce  the  length  by 
one-half  and  you  more  than  double  the  work 
required  of  each  foot. 

For  a  long  time  after  I  first  began  to  experi- 
ment with  the  modern  bait-casting  rods  I  felt 
sure  that,  for  an  all-round  rod  one  of  six  feet 
or  slightly  longer  seemed  preferable  to  those 
of  lesser  lengths.   Exhaustive  experiments  with 

7S 


76      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

rods  of  various  lengths  and  with  reels  and 
lines,  in  fishing  and  in  tournament  casting,  have 
convinced  me  that  if  we  make  our  bait-casting 
rods  as  delicate,  relatively,  as  our  fly-rods,  and 
still  retain  ample  resilience,  strength,  and  back- 
bone, sy^  feet  seems  a  very  good  average 
length. 

Numerous  well-known  advocates  of  short 
rods  have  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion.  So 
well  known  are  they  that  their  advice  seems 
worthy,  especially  as  their  conclusions  have 
been  proved  sound  by  the  vast  number  of  5  J^- 
foot  rods  used  in  the  national  casting  tourna- 
ments and  in  bass  fishing. 

Sometimes  it  is  said  that  the  modern  bait- 
casting  rod,  like  the  long  bow  of  merry  Eng- 
land, should  be  proportioned  to  the  owner's 
height  and  strength.  There  may  be  some- 
thing in  this,  but  I  would  hesitate  to  assert 
that  a  six-footer  should  select  a  rod  of  his 
height,  and  a  man  of  medium  stature  one  of 
five  feet. 

Who  was  first  to  advance  this  theory  I  do 
not  know,  but  Alfred  Ronalds,  in  his  "Fly- 
Fisher's  Entomology"  (London,  1836),  said 
of  salmon  and  trout  fly-rods: 

**  Like  the  bow  of  the  archer,  the  rod  of  the 
angler  should  be  duly  proportioned  in  dimen- 


BAIT-CASTING  RODS  77 

sions  and  weight  to  the  strength  and  stature 
of  him  who  wields  it." 

Possibly  a  short  man  may  get  better  results 
with  a  five  foot  rod  than  with  one  of  six  feet, 
but  there  is  little  to  recommend  any  rod 
shorter  than  five  feet,  since  it  must  be  stubby 
If  badly  proportioned,  or  weak  if  of  too  small 
diameter.  If  the  handgrasp  is  less  than  twelve 
inches  in  length,  and  the  taper  begins  at  15-32 
of  an  Inch  and  Is  hollow  for  a  short  distance, 
then  gradual  to  the  top,  with  a  diameter  there 
of  7-64  Inch,  the  66-inch  rod  will  be  equally 
serviceable  for  fishing  and  for  practice  In 
tournament  casting.  It  may  well  be  termed  an 
all-round  rod. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  as  well  as  for  the 
sake  of  brevity  and  simplicity,  I  will  try  to  In- 
struct beginners  In  making  bait  rods  5}^  feet 
in  length.  The  application  of  the  same  princi- 
ples to  the  making  of  rods  of  other  lengths 
will  follow  naturally  and  fly-rods  will  be  treated 
separately. 

Several  things  must  be  considered  by  the  be- 
ginner before  he  obtains  his  rod  materials : 

First.  It  is  evident  that  the  Ideal  rod  Is  one 
made  of  a  single  length  of  wood  or  split  bam- 
boo, with  a  handgrasp  permanently  glued  on 
Its  large  end.     But  while  this  is  particularly 


78      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

true  of  split  bamboo,  it  does  not  apply  with 
equal  force  to  wood,  as  it  is  more  difficult  to 
obtain  a  slender  straight-grained  piece  of  wood 
sixty-six  inches  in  length  and  free  from  knots 
and  other  imperfections.  Still,  this  is  not  im- 
possible. 

Second.  A  rod  with  only  one  joint.  Such 
rods  are  frequently  made  with  a  long  tip  and 
a  separate  handgrasp.  This  is  a  most  excellent 
type,  and  rods  of  this  form  are  very  popular. 
They  are  more  compact  than  the  one-piece 
rods,  and  almost  if  not  quite  equal  to  them. 

Third.  A  rod  consisting  of  a  butt  and  a 
tip  of  the  same  length.  This  is  not  quite  the 
equal  of  rods  of  the  second  class,  but  much 
more  handy  to  make  and  to  carry  about. 
Theoretically  the  ferrule  should  not  be  placed 
in  the  middle  of  the  rod;  practically  a  very 
good  rod  can  be  so  made.  Its  simplicity  is 
marked.  It  is  a  very  common  type,  particu- 
larly in  salt  water  fishing.  I  have  made  sev- 
eral rods,  each  consisting  of  one  length,  and 
have  invariably  cut  them  in  two  later  on,  plac- 
ing the  ferrule  in  the  middle,  or  in  the  thick 
part  near  the  handgrasp.  Very  little  difference 
in  the  action  of  these  rods,  before  and  after 
altering,  was  noticeable. 

Fourth.    A  rod  consisting  of  a  butt,  a  joint, 


BAIT-CASTING  RODS  79 

and  a  tip,  all  of  equal  length.  This  is  the  most 
common  type  known  to-day,  the  handiest  for 
carrying,  but  with  its  faults.  Its  ferrules  are, 
in  theory,  placed  to  better  advantage  than  are 
those  of  the  rod  of  the  second  class.  Practice 
undoubtedly  proves  this  theory  correct.  In  a 
rod  of  5J^  feet,  however,  the  ferrules  mate- 
rially stiffen  it  at  these  two  points,  and  it  must 
be  very  carefully  proportioned. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ONE-PIECE   BAIT-CASTING  RODS 

A  SSUMING  that  you  have  obtained  all  the 
h\  materials  needed,  we  will  begin  our  ac- 
"^  tual  rodmaking,  taking  the  rods  as  they 
are  given  and  commencing  with  one  of  the  first 
class,  as  it  is  the  easiest  type  to  make.  As  your 
rod,  when  finished,  is  to  be  5^^  feet  long,  the 
agate  top  adding  about  ^  of  an  inch,  the  wood 
should  be  slightly  more  than  ^}4  feet  long,  to 
allow  for  cutting  down  finally  to  65^  inches. 
Assuming  that  your  wood  is  ^-inch  square 
and  free  from  knots,  plane  it  a  trifle  on  all  sur- 
faces and  from  both  ends,  to  determine  which 
way  the  grain  runs;  and  having  decided  which 
shall  be  the  butt  end,  drill  two  holes  through 
the  wood  very  close  to  that  end,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  28,  and  drive  a  brad  in  the  right-hand  end 
of  your  workbench,  so  that  you  can  hook  the 
big  end  of  the  wood  over  the  brad  and  plane 
away  from  it,  which  is  much  more  satisfactory 
than  butting  the  small  end  of  the  wood  against 
a  cleat  at  the  far  end  of  the  bench. 

80 


ONE-PIECE  RODS  81 


Fig.  28. — Arranging  the  Wood   for   Planing. 

Plane  the  wood  until  it  is  straight  and  true, 
the  gauge  showing  that  it  is  j4  inch  thick  on 
each  side  throughout  its  length.  If  it  is 
crooked,  do  not  worry,  and  do  not  attempt  to 
correct  this  by  planing  more  off  one  side  than 
the  other.  It  can  be  straightened  perfectly 
later  on.  Mark  the  exact  center  at  each  end 
with  two  lines  crossing  in  the  center. 

If  your  handgrasp  is  to  be  single,  mark  a 
point  ten  inches  from  the  butt  end  and  continue 
the  line  entirely  around  the  wood.  This  will 
allow  you  to  saw  off  an  inch  where  the  holes 
are,  and  give  you  space  for  a  nine-inch  hand- 
grasp.  If  the  grasp  is  to  be  double,  allow 
twelve  inches,  for  an  eleven-inch  grasp. 

Begin  at  your  pencil  mark  and  plane  care- 
fully and  evenly  to  the  tip  end  on  all  sides. 
Use  the  caliper  frequently,  noting  the  diam- 
eter every  six  inches.  If  there  is  a  thick  place, 
mark  it  heavily  with  the  pencil  and  plane  that 
part  lightly,  then  continue  to  reduce  all  sides 
until  you  have  a  nice  even  taper  and  the  small 


82       AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

end  is  5-32  of  an  inch  thick.  Holding  the  tip 
end  on  the  floor,  exert  a  slight  pressure  and 
note  the  curve  of  the  whole  piece,  which  should 
arch  nicely,  the  curve  diminishing  gradually 
toward  the  butt.  Turn  it,  and  see  if  the 
spring  is  fairly  uniform  on  all  sides. 

Now  caliper  carefully  and  trim  off  uneven 
places  until  the  diameter  of  both  sides  is  exactly 
alike  at  each  six-inch  station.  Use  the  small 
plane  for  this  work,  setting  it  very  fine. 

A  piece  of  board  with  a  groove  in  one  edge, 
preferably  four  feet  long,  Is  now  In  order. 
Pine  tongue-and-groove  stuff,  used  for  parti- 
tions, is  ideal.  Its  value  for  other  branches  of 
rodmaking  will  be  explained  further  on.  Plane 
the  edge,  so  that  the  groove  will  be  shallow  at 
the  tip  end,  and  fasten  it  In  the  vise  or  nail  it 
lightly  to  the  side  of  the  bench.  Lay  the  rod 
in  the  groove,  with  one  of  the  four  corners 
uppermost,  and  setting  your  small  plane  a  trifle 
coarse,  take  off  the  corner  evenly  from  butt  to 
tip.  Ignoring  your  pencil  mark. 

Turn  to  the  next  corner  and  plane  it,  theil 
the  other  two.  Use  the  utmost  care  in  trans- 
forming the  strip  from  square  to  octagon  form, 
and  caliper  frequently  until  It  is  of  exactly  the 
same  diameter  on  every  side  at  each  six-inch 
station.    You  are  now  shaping  the  strip,  so  that 


ONE  PIECE  BODS  83 

the  next  step  will  make  it  round,  and  in  this 
stage  haste  will  work  sad  havoc  with  later 
plans.  The  eye,  the  caliper  and  testing  the 
arch  must  all  be  depended  on  at  this  stage. 
Every  one  of  the  eight  sides  must  be  uniform. 
A  perfect  strip  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  36,  p.  103. 

Setting  your  small  plane  very  fine  again,  lay 
the  strip  in  the  groove  and  take  off  one  of  the 
corners  the  full  length.  Turn  to  the  next  one 
and  remove  it,  and  so  on.  The  rod  is  now  ap- 
proximately round,  cylindrical  in  its  first  foot, 
then  tapering  gradually  to  the  small  end. 

There  are  various  ways  to  make  it  perfectly 
round.  One  is  to  lay  it  flat  on  the  bench,  and 
holding  it  under  the  palm  of  the  left  hand,  roll 
it  backward  and  forward  while  sandpapering 
it  with  a  sheet  of  that  abrasive  folded  over  a 
block  of  wood,  held  in  the  right  hand  and 
moved  rapidly  up  and  down  the  rod.  I  prefer 
the  flat  steel  scraper,  and  turn  the  rod  rapidly 
while  working  from  end  to  end,  using  the 
grooved  board  to  hold  it  steady. 

Stop  frequently  and  draw  the  rod  through 
the  fingers  to  locate  uneven  places.  If  none 
are  found,  go  over  the  rod  thoroughly  with 
sandpaper  folded  and  held  in  the  hand  with- 
out the  block.  You  are  now  ready  for  final 
tapering. 


84      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

At  this  stage  I  take  a  strip  of  paper  the  full 
length  of  the  rod  and  draw  two  parallel  lines 
on  it,  each  65^  inches  in  length.  The  upper 
line  I  mark  "  rough  calibers,"  and  the  lower 
line  **  final  calibers."  Marks  are  placed  on  each 
line  to  indicate  the  place  where  the  taper  of 
the  handgrasp  is  to  be,  then  every  six  inches 
to  the  tip  end.  Lay  the  rod  beside  the  upper 
line  on  your  paper,  caliper  it  at  every  station, 
and  set  these  figures  down  on  the  correspond- 
ing mark.  Note  them  carefully,  for  If  the 
wood  has  been  planed  properly  in  the  square, 
the  tapers  will  be  nearly  uniform  from  hand- 
grasp  to  tip-end,  but  the  wood  will  not,  in  this 
form,  be  properly  proportioned  for  use. 

If  you  were  working  by  rule-of-thumb,  with- 
out a  rod  to  copy,  the  only  thing  would  be  to 
put  a  top  and  guides  on  the  rod  temporarily, 
fasten  a  reel  on  the  butt  with  cord,  run  the 
line  through,  attach  a  quarter-  or  half-ounce 
weight,  and  try  a  few  casts;  but  the  formula 
in  Fig.  29  will  save  time.  These  calibers  were 
taken  from  several  bethabara  rods  that  have 
seen  long  use  in  fishing  and  practice  casting. 

If  the  wood  IS  dagama  or  greenheart,  add 
1-64  of  an  inch  or  a  trifle  less  to  each  diam- 
eter given.  Try  the  rod  before  deciding,  for 
the  action  varies  with  different  pieces  of  wood. 


ONE-PIECE  RODS  85 

and  none  can  be  exactly  alike.  In  Fig.  29  the 
lower  line  of  figures  mark  the  six-inch  stations; 
the  upper  figures  the  final  calibers  of  a  beth- 
abara  rod.  It  will  be  noted  that,  commenc- 
ing at  the  cylindrical  butt  end,  the  calibers  de- 

tf         '  — .-^ — 


00  M 


Fig.  29. — Calibers  of  a  Bethabara  Rod. 

crease  rapidly  to  the  thirty-inch  station,  then 
are  nearly  uniform  to  a  point  close  to  the  top. 

Mark  these  calibers  on  the  lower  line  of 
your  paper,  and  note  the  variations  between 
them  and  the  calibers  of  your  rod.  Then 
scrape  or  sandpaper  from  your  pencil  mark  to- 
ward the  tip,  gauging  often  until  your  rod  is 
very  nearly  as  small  as  it  is  to  be  finally.  Now 
tie  on  a  reel,  guides,  and  top  and  try  the  rod 
in  casting.  If  it  pleases  you,  go  over  It  lightly 
with  fine  sandpaper  and  fit  the  agate  top  per- 
manently. Use  a  flat  file  in  tapering  the  wood 
to  fit  the  tube  snugly.  Heat  your  ferrule  ce- 
ment and  coat  the  wood  lightly  with  it,  then 
heat  the  tube  of  the  top,  push  it  home,  and  turn 
It  around  until  the  inside  is  evenly  coated  with 
cement. 

Measure  from  agate  top  to  butt  and  saw  the 


86      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

latter  at  the  66-inch  mark.  Warm  the  agate 
top  over  the  flame  of  a  match  and  remove  it 
for  the  present. 

Select  a  number  of  corks  and  warm  your 
glue.  A  piece  of  thin  15-32  inch  tubing  is  now 
needed.  An  old  ferrule  will  answer.  File  the 
outside  of  one  end  until  the  edge  is  sharp. 
Holding  the  tube  in  the  center  of  a  cork,  with 
a  pad  in  the  palm  of  the  hand  to  prevent  that 
end  from  cutting  you,  turn  the  tube  evenly  until 
it  cuts  through  the  cork  like  a  wad-cutter.  The 
result  will  surprise  you — a  nice  smooth  hole 
through  this  seemingly  difficult  substance  to 
work.  Do  not,  however,  try  to  hammer  the 
tube  through  the  cork. 

Drop  this  cork  circlet  over  the  tip  of  your 
rod  and  push  it  slowly  down  to  the  butt,  the 
last  inch  of  which  has  previously  been  coated 
with  hot  glue.  Punch  out  another  cork,  slide 
It  down,  coat  the  first  one  with  glue,  press  them 
into  close  contact.  Proceed  in  this  manner 
until  you  have  ten  corks  on  the  rod,  giving  you 
a  handgrasp  approximately  five  inches  long. 

Now  procure  a  piece  of  white  pine  5  inches 
long  and  %  Inch  in  diameter.  Bore  a  15-32- 
hole  through  It  and  round  off  the  outside  until 
it  will  go  Inside  the  reelseat  easily.  This  should 
be  perfectly  made,  and  it  may  be  best  to  have 
.  it  turned  in  a  lathe.     Taper  one  end  until  it 


ONE  PIECE  RODS  87 

will  fit  the  taper  of  the  reelseat  nicely,  while 
the  other  end  should  lack  a  quarter-inch  of 
being  as  long  as  the  reelseat.  Slide  this  pine 
sleeve  down  over  the  rod  (see  Fig.  30),  coat 


Fig.  30. — Corks  in  Place  and  Sleeve  Ready  to  Be  Glued 
On. 


the  rod  and  the  uppermost  cork  with  glue, 
press  the  pine  sleeve  home  and  put  the  rod 
aside  for  a  couple  of  days  until  the  glue  dries. 

If  you  want  the  handgrasp  to  be  shaped  in 
a  certain  way  and  be  nicely  finished,  have  it 
turned  in  a  lathe.  I  prefer  to  have  mine  per- 
fectly cylindrical  throughout,  and  press  the  reel- 
seat  into  the  top  cork,  leaving  a  right-angled 
shoulder  to  serve  in  lieu  of  a  finger  hook.  I 
take  a  piece  of  sandpaper,  folded  round  a  block 
of  wood,  and  turning  the  rod  rapidly,  work 
back  and  forth  lengthwise  of  the  grasp,  gaug- 
ing frequently,  then  using  fine  sandpaper  until 
the  grasp  is  cut  down  to  i  1-16  inch  in  diam- 
eter. 

Taper  the  lower  corks  until  the  buttcap  will 
fit  snugly.     Warm  the  buttcap,  rub  a  little  ce- 


88      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

ment  inside,  push  it  home,  and  when  it  is  cold 
drill  a  hole  in  it  and  into  the  butt  of  the  rod, 
drive  a  brass  pin  home  and  file  it  off  flush  with 
the  surface  of  the  cap.  Wipe  off  surplus  ce- 
ment. 

In  fitting  the  reelseat  over  the  pine  sleeve, 
place  the  hooded  end  down,  so  that  in  fitting 
the  reel  to  the  seat  the  band  will  pull  down 
and  in  this  way  bring  the  reel  near  the  hand,  so 
that  the  index  finger  will  grip  the  cork  shoulder 
and  render  your  control  of  the  reel  and  rod 
firm.  If  the  yoke  of  the  reel  fits  the  seat  as  It 
should,  and  the  band  is  tight,  the  reel  will  never 
work  loose,  even  in  a  long  fight  with  a  big  fish. 

The  three-quarter-inch  commercial  reelseat 
is  about  4j^  inches  long,  and  for  bait-rods  the 
correct  way — in  theory,  at  least — is  to  fit  it 
with  the  sliding  band  at  the  bottom,  so  that  the 
band  will  push  forward  over  the  reel-yoke  and 
counteract  the  tendency  of  the  reel  to  work 
loose  in  playing  a  fish.  Fitted  with  the  hood 
on  the  upper  end  of  the  reelseat,  the  reel  goes 
so  far  forward  that  more  than  an  inch  of  the 
seat  is  exposed,  and  the  right  hand  must  grip 
this  metal  instead  of  the  firmer  and  less  slip- 
pery cork  or  cord  wound  grasp;  hence,  the 
shape  of  a  well-formed  grasp  counts  for  less 
than  It  should. 


ONE'PIECE  RODS  89 

If  the  handgrasp  is  single,  the  length  of  the 
reelseat  does  not  so  much  matter,  but  when  the 
grasp  is  double  I  prefer  to  cut  the  reelseat 
down  to  a  length  of  3%  inches,  and  also  file 
the  after  end  of  the  reel-yoke  until  its  length  is 
only  2j^  inches.  This  brings  the  reel  nearer 
the  hand,  and  also  places  the  upper  grasp 
where  the  left  hand  can  rest  on  it  in  spooling 
the  line. 

Formerly  I  made  all  my  bait-casting  rods 
with  double  handgrasps,  but  have  finally  ar- 
rived at  the  conclusion  that  for  tournament 
casting  the  upper  grasp  is  a  useless  thing  that 
serves  only  to  stiffen  the  rod  at  that  point.  I 
always  grasp  the  reel  in  spooling  line  and  in 
playing  a  fish,  holding  the  reel  with  three  fin- 
gers of  the  left  hand,  while  the  index  finger  and 
the  thumb  spool  the  line.  Making  the  grasp 
single  and  short  adds  to  the  resilience  of  the 
rod  and  makes  it  neater,  and  easier  to  build. 
I  always  place  the  hooded  end  of  the  seat  down, 
and  if  the  band  is  wedged  tightly  over  the 
yoke,  as  it  should  be,  there  is  no  play.  A 
great  many  sea  and  other  rods  are  made  with 
the  hooded  end  down. 

See  that  the  yoke  of  your  reel  is  standard. 
Formerly  every  manufacturer  made  yokes  as 
best  suited  his  fancy,  but  some  twenty  years 


90      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

ago  the  National  Rod  and  Reel  Association 
adopted  three  standards  for  reel-yokes.  The 
smallest,  ^-inch,  was  cut  on  the  arc  of  a  ten- 
cent  piece;  for  %-inch  reelseats,  a  nickel;  and 
for  i-inch  reelseats,  a  silver  quarter.  Nearly 
all  manufacturers  follow  these  gauges. 

Assemble  all  the  parts  of  the  reelseat  and 
♦push  it  down  over  the  pine  sleeve,  working  it 
well  into  the  topmost  cork,  to  form  a  water- 
proof joint.  If  the  taper  fits  the  tapered  end  of 
the  pine  sleeve,  remove  the  seat,  coat  the  sleeve 
with  cement  or  glue  and  push  the  reelseat 
home.  A  brass  pin  through  the  hooded  end 
and  reelseat  will  fix  the  metal  parts  of  your 
handgrasp  rigidly.  This  pin  should  merely 
enter  the  wood  of  the  rod,  but  not  penetrate 
far,  or  it  may  weaken  it.  I  prefer  to  set  two 
very  small  brass  camera  screws,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  hood,  and  two  of  these  instead  of 
one  pin  in  the  buttcap.  They  are  not  so  likely 
to  work  loose  as  is  the  case  with  pins.  They 
should  be  }i  inch  long. 

Now  go  over  the  rod  with  the  finest  sand- 
paper, wet  the  wood  to  raise  the  grain,  let  it 
dry,  then  cut  it  down  with  a  bit  of  well-worn 
fine  sandpaper,  polish  diligently  with  shavings 
from  the  rod,  and  finally  rub  with  tissue  paper 
until  you   secure   a  high  gloss.      Replace   the 


ONE  PIECE  RODS  91 

agate  top,  rub  the  rod  with  coach  varnish  on  a 
rag,  and  suspend  it  on  a  brad  in  an  airy  or 
sunny  place  free  from  dust  until  it  is  dry.  If 
it  is  crooked,  let  it  hang  with  a  heavy  reel  in 
place. 

Tie  the  guides  on  with  cord,  attach  a  reel, 
and  practice  with  the  rod  until  you  are  satis- 
fied— either  that  it  suits  you  or  that  it  needs 
reducing  a  trifle  in  places  where  it  seems  too 
stiff. 

Just  here  it  is  well  to  quote  the  late  Major 
Traherne,  who,  in  '*  The  Badminton  Library 
on  Salmon  and  Trout,"  said  of  the  greenheart 
salmon  rod: 

"  I  am  at  a  loss  how  to  describe  it,  but  its 
virtue  lies  in  an  equal  distribution  of  strength. 
In  proportion,  from  the  butt  to  the  point.  A 
heavy  butt,  with  no  spring  to  it,  and  with  a 
weak  top,  is  of  little  use  for  casting  purposes 
beyond  a  certain  distance.  The  spring  should 
be  felt,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  the  bottom  of 
the  butt  when  casting;  and  I  consider  a  rod 
which  does  not  possess  this  quality  of  little  or 
no  value." 

This  applies  to  all  rods,  whether  for  lure  or 
fly-casting;  but  in  finishing  the  bait-rod  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  for  quick,  snappy  cast- 
ing the  taper  from  the  middle  to  the  tip-end 


92      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

should  be  more  rapid  than  in  a  rod  intended 
for  slow,  even  casting  with  light  lures,  and  for 
accuracy  casting.  In  this  the  taper  may  be 
rapid  for  a  short  distance,  then  slow  to  the  tip, 
giving  greater  resilience  to  the  whole  rod,  but 
retaining  strength  near  the  handgrasp. 

Several  trials  should  satisfy  you  with  the 
rod.  If  it  is  reduced  In  places,  finish  as  before, 
with  the  final  coat  of  varnish  rubbed  in.  This 
thin  coat  serves  as  a  protection  under  the  silk 
windings,  which,  as  will  be  explained  in  the 
proper  place,  are  put  on  without  wax.  You  are 
now  ready  to  wind  and  varnish  the  rod. 

If  you  decide  to  wind  the  grasp  with  cord, 
procure  one  of  the  pine  single  grasps  which 
cost  about  twenty  cents,  and  trim  it  to  fit  the 
reelseat  snugly,  tapering  at  the  forward  end  to 
fit  the  metal  taper.  Slide  it  down  over  the  rod 
and  glue  it  in  place.  When  dry  form  a  shoul- 
der at  the  bottom  so  the  cord  will  end  there,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  31,  and  wind  with  cord.  The 
cord  should  be  covered  for  a  quarter-inch  at 
the  butt  by  the  cap,  and  for  an  equal  distance 
at  the  other  end  by  the  reelseat.  The  latter  is 
put  on  in  the  same  fashion  as  with  a  cork 
grasp. 

If  you  wish  to  make  a  double  cork  grasp, 
the  reelseat  and  taper  shown  in  Fig.   18  are 


ONE-PIECE  HODS  93 

necessary.  In  this  case  the  corks  for  the  lower 
grasp  are  followed  with  a  pine  sleeve  a  quar- 
ter-inch shorter  at  each  end  than  the  reelseat. 
This  is  cemented  on  and  another  cork  pressed 
down  until  it  butts  against  the  sleeve  and  is 
pierced  slightly  by  the  upper  end  of  the  reel- 
seat.  More  corks  are  glued  on  until  the  de- 
sired length  of  the  small  upper  grasp  is  at- 
tained, then  the  glue  given  time  to  dry.  The 
cork  is  then  worked  down,  tapering  forward 
until  the  small  metal  taper  finishes  It  off.  This 
Is  cemented  lightly  in  place. 

A  double  grasp,  cord  wound,  requires  more 
care.  It  is  first  necessary  to  obtain  a  pine 
grasp,  bored  through.  These  come  In  the 
shape  shown  In  Fig.  32,  and  much  longer  than 
necessary.  Saw  In  the  middle,  fit,  and  wind 
the  lower  grasp,  try  the  reelseat  and  cut  off 
the  cylindrical  part  of  the  grasp  so  that  the 
joint  will  come  under  the  reel,  rather  below 
the  center.  Attach  the  reelseat  permanently 
and  fit  the  upper  grasp,  making  it  fit  snugly, 
but  allowing  for  the  thickness  of  the  cord  to 
be  wound  over  it.  Now  wind  a  dozen  turns 
of  cord  over  the  upper  grasp  (see  Fig.  33) 
and  try  it,  removing  the  cord  and  taking  off 
a  little  wood  until  it  will  butt  against  the  other 
end  under  the   reelseat.      Replace  the   cord, 


94      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


Fig.    31- — Cord-wound    Pine    Handgrasp. 


Fig.  32. — Pine  Handgrasp,  Double. 


Fig.  23' — Upper   Grasp   Ready   for  Gluing  in   Place. 

coat  the  rod  and  inside  of  sleeve  with  glue  and 
push  it  home.  Continue  the  winding  until  the 
upper  grasp  is  covered,  then  tie  off  and  fit  the 
taper   (Fig.   18)   snugly  in  place. 

These  cord-wound  grasps  should  be  given 
two  coats  of  shellac  and  one  of  coach  varnish 
as  soon  as  they  are  dry.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  small  cord,  when  varnished,  is 
somewhat  slippery  when  wet,  and  large  cord 
is  harsh  to  the  hand.  If  the  size  is  equal  to 
that  of  D  or  E  silk  lines  it  will  make  a  good 
grasp. 

I  prefer  the  cork  grasps  for  many  reasons, 
among  them  being  the  ease  with  which  they 
can  be  made  after  one  has  had  a  little  practice. 
Cork  must  be  humored,  as  it  were.  If  you  find 
that  sandpapering  the  grasp  lengthwise  does 
not  result  in  a  velvety  finish,  secure  the  rod  in 


ONE-PIECE  RODS  95 

a  vise  after  wrapping  it  with  several  thicknesses 
of  cloth,  and  with  a  long  strip  of  the  finest 
sandpaper,  go  over  the  grasp  just  as  a  boot- 
black does  with  his  polishing  cloth,  turning  the 
rod  occasionally.  You  will  soon  learn  to  im- 
part a  nice  finish,  and  this  will  prove  that  you 
can,  on  a  pinch,  get  along  without  the  use  of 
a  lathe. 


CHAPTER   VII 

ONE-PIECE     BAIT-CASTING     RODS     WITH     SEPA- 
RATE   HANDGRASPS 

TO  make  a  rod  of  the  second  class,  in 
which  the  handgrasp  Is  to  be  single  and 
nine  inches  in  length,  the  wood  for  the 
tip,  inclusive  of  the  agate  top,  will  be  approxi- 
mately 58>4  inches  long,  as  the  ferrule  center 
on  the  large  end  of  the  tip  will  enter  the  hand- 
grasp  ferrule  about  ij/^  Inches.  These  fer- 
rules should  be  15-32  of  an  Inch  in  diameter 
and  of  the  type  shown  in  Fig.  17.  The  large 
end  of  tip  is  marked  for  a  distance  equal  to 
the  small  end  of  the  center,  and  the  wood  care- 
fully reduced  with  a  file  until  it  will  enter  the 
center  snugly  to  Its  very  end,  as  illustrated  In 
Fig.  34.  The  center  Is  then  cemented  on,  and 
the  tip  Is  ready  for  Its  rubbed  coat  of  varnish 
and  the  winding.  Obviously  this  tip  Is  to  be 
made  of  the  same  diameter  as  rods  of  the  first 
class — described  in  a  preceding  chapter — save 
that  It  begins  to  taper  at  the  ferrule. 

Rods  of  this  class  are  not  always  made  with 
96 


SEPARATE  HANDGRASPS    97 

two  tips,  but  this  can  be  done  by  purchasing 
two  centers  to  fit  the  ferrule  in  the  handgrasp. 
By  making  one  tip  as  described  above,  and  the 


Qw/7///;^/;m//^ 


WmV})imm^)}}iim))))mW)i)h)}))mwnj)W)n 


%i\\\mmm\m\\m4mmM^ 


Fig.  34. — lyarge  End  of  Tip,  Shouldered  to  Fit  a  Capped 
Ferrule  Center. 

Other  one  with  a  rapid  or  hollow  taper  for  six 
inches  above  the  ferrule,  then  gradual  to  the 
small  end,  practically  two  rods  will  be  the  re- 
sult. One  tip  can  be  stiff,  for  distance  casting, 
and  the  other  one  more  willowy,  for  accuracy 
or  light  lure  casting — a  very  useful  combina- 
tion. I  have  made  a  tip  of  this  sort  from  beth- 
abara  which  will  cast  a  quarter-ounce  lure 
nicely,  and  is  so  well  proportioned  that  it  is  a 
pleasant  rod  to  fish  with.  The  dimensions 
follow,  and  may  be  compared  for  reference 
with  those  given  in  Fig.  29.  The  center  is 
15-32  of  an  inch,  and  the  wood  tapers  quickly 
at  first,  to  23-64  at  the  six-inch  mark;  at  12 
inches,  21-64;  18  inches,  19-64;  two  feet,  17-64; 
iy2  feet,  15-64;  three  feet,  13-64;  3J^  feet, 
11-64;  four  feet,  5-32;  4>^  feet,  y%\  58^2 
inches,  at  the  top,  7-64  of  an  inch. 


98      AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

A  separate  single  handgrasp  can  be  made  as 
follows:  Fit  the  ferrule  (Fig.  17)  on  a  piece 
of  light  but  springy  wood  like  spruce,  dagama, 
or  greenheart.  This  must  be  rounded  nicely 
and  the  ferrule  seated  on  it  just  so  that  the 


J- = —  wiiMimimimmiwiiiiiiiiiif 


Fig.  35.— Ferrule  Riveted  on  Wood  Core  of  Hand- 
grasp.  Pine  Sleeve  Ready  to  Be  Glued  On,  and  Reelseat 
and  Corks  for  Grasp. 

center  will  not  touch  the  wood.  Cement  and 
rivet  the  ferrule  on  to  the  core,  fit  a  pine 
sleeve  over  the  wood  and  the  ferrule,  with 
forward  end  of  sleeve  tapered  to  fit  a  reel- 
seat  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  16.  Now  try  the 
reel-seat,  and  when  it  fits  snugly,  with  its  lower 
end  extending  a  quarter-inch  below  the  pine 
sleeve,  glue  the  sleeve  on  the  wood  and  the 
reel-seat  on  it,  and  rivet  or  screw  the  reel- 
seat  in  place. 

Slide  a  perforated  cork  forward  over  the 
wood  and  work  the  end  of  the  reel-seat  into 
it  until  it  butts  against  the  end  of  the  sleeve. 


SEPARATE  HANDGRASPS    99 

Glue  this  cork  in  place,  following  with  others 
until  the  total  length  of  grasp,  inclusive  of 
reel-seat,  is  nine  inches,  when  the  wood  core 
is  cut  off  and  the  cork  finished  and  fitted  with 
a  butt-cap.  A  handgrasp  of  this  form  will 
never  come  apart  if  properly  made.  Its  parts 
are  anchored  at  both  ends. 

If  to  be  cord-wound,  the  pine  grasp  is  fitted 
over  the  wood  core  and  ^ferrule,  ithe  taper 
placed  over  the  ferrule  and  the  grasp  fitted  to 
it,  as  in  Fig.  35.  Beginning  at  a  point  that 
will  be  covered  by  the  after  end  of  the  reel- 
seat,  the  grasp  is  wound  a  few  turns  with  cord 
and  the  reel-seat  fitted  over  it.  The  core  is 
then  coated  with  glue  and  the  grasp  pushed 
forward  until  the  reel-seat  and  the  tapered 
end  of  the  grasp  fit  closely,  when  the  winding 
is  resumed  and  tied  off  at  the  shouldered  butt 
end.  The  butt  cap  and  reel-seat  being  riveted 
in  place,  this  separate  grasp  is  ready  for  shel- 
lac and  varnish. 

If  to  be  double,  and  cord-wound,  the  for- 
ward grasp  is  first  fitted  over  the  wood  core, 
the  taper  (Fig.  18)  pushed  up  against  the  welt 
on  the  ferrule,  and  a  few  turns  of  cord  wound 
on  the  tapered  end  of  the  upper  grasp,  then 
this  grasp  glued  in  place  on  the  wooden  core, 
with  the  winding  covered  by  the  taper.     Con- 


100    AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

tinue  to  wind  down  to  the  cylindrical  part,  fit 
the  reel-seat  and  glue  It  on,  wind  a  few  turns 
over  the  lower  grasp,  try  it,  and  finally  glue 
It  In  place;  then  wind  to  the  shouldered  butt 
end  and  fit  the  butt  cap.  The  two  parts  of 
the  pine  grasp  abut  inside  the  reel-seat,  as 
illustrated  in  Fig.  33. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TWO-PIECE  BAIT-CASTING  RODS 

FOR  a  rod  consisting  of  two  pieces  of 
equal  length,  it  is  well  to  begin  with  a 
butt  three  feet  long  and  ^-inch  square, 
and  two  tips,  each  three  feet  by  ^-inch.  If 
the  taper  is  to  be  the  same  as  in  the  rod  of 
the  first  class,  the  only  extras  will  be  a  17-64- 
inch  ferrule  with  two  closed-end  centers,  one 
for  each  tip.  The  tips  will  taper  from  17-64 
to  7-64  inch. 

Naturally  the  beginner  would  make  the  butt 
first,  whereas  I  advise  him  to  make  the  tips 
first,  for  this  reason :  The  offset  and  tube  tops 
are  not  all  of  the  same  length,  and  if  it  is  de- 
sired to  make  all  pieces  exactly  the  same 
length,  the  tips  should  be  finished  first.  This 
applies  especially  to  three-piece  rods,  in  mak- 
ing which  it  is  difGcult  for  the  beginner  to 
figure  correctly  on  the  separate  parts;  for  the 
length  of  the  tip  is  added  to  when  the  top  is 
put  on,  and  each  of  the  ferrules  adds  some- 
thing, so  that  it  is  hard  to  get  all  pieces  of  the 
loi; 


102    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

same  length  without  wasting  time  trying  and 
cutting  until  all  are  correct. 

I  give  exact  lengths  for  each  piece,  but  if  it 
is  desired  to  make  the  rod  longer  or  shorter 
than  five  and  one-half  feet,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  trimmed  tip  shown  in  Fig.  38 
is  slightly  more  than  one-half  the  total  length 
of  the  rod,  for  the  reason  that  the  ferrule  on 
the  butt  adds  i^  inches  to  the  actual  length 
of  the  wood;  hence  the  wood  in  the  butt  must 
be  slightly  shorter  than  the  wood  in  the  tips, 
in  order  that  all  parts  will  be  the  same  length 
when  completed. 

Extreme  care  must  be  exercised  in  fitting  the 
centers  on  the  tips,  as  the  least  uneven  place 
will  force  the  center  out  of  true  alignment,  and 
this  applies  to  the  ferrule,  too.  It  is  also  easy 
to  break  a  tip  in  sandpapering.  When  the 
tips  are  finished  (see  Fig.  37)  they  will  be  33 
inches  in  length  and  33^  when  fitted  with 
centers  and  tops,  as  shown  in  Fig.  38.  When 
polished  for  the  last  time,  they  should  be 
rubbed  with  varnish  and  suspended. 

One  of  the  common  bevel-gear  drill  stocks, 
with  a  chuck  large  enough  to  take  a  ^-inch 
drill,  can  be  made  to  serve  you  in  a  way  its 
manufacturers  probably  never  thought  of. 
This  tool  is  made  with  a  revolving  wheel  and 


TWO-PIECE  RODS  103 


Fig.  36.— -Tip  Planed  to  Octagon  Section. 


Fig.    37' — Tip    Ready    for    Mounting 

—  ■  ' 

Fig.  38. — Tip  Fitted  with  Center  and  Top 

Fig.  39. — Butt  Joint  Finished  and  Ready  for  Handgrasp 
and  Ferrule. 

handle  on  one  side,  for  the  right  hand,  and 
a  stationary  knob  on  the  other,  for  steadying 
with  the  left  hand.  Remove  this  knob  and 
fasten  its  spindle  in  the  vise,  wheel  and  handle 
on  top.  The  chuck  will  take  one  of  your  tips, 
but  do  not  close  it  too  tightly.  Turn  the  wheel 
with  your  left  hand  and  polish  your  tips  with 
a  bit  of  sandpaper  held  in  the  right  hand, 
moving  forward  and  back  very  rapidly,  to  pre- 
vent circular  scratches.  If  the  tip  is  springy, 
be  very  careful  as  you  approach  its  small  end, 
for  with  this  makeshift  lathe  you  may  snap 
off  the  end  if  you  happen  to  let  the  sandpaper 
slip  and  catch  it. 

By  fitting  a  wood  plug  into  the  ferrule  and 
securing  the  other  end  of  the  plug  in  the  chuck, 
you  can  polish  the  butt  or  joint  of  your  rod, 


104    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

but  it  IS  advisable  to  have  someone  else  turn 
the  wheel  while  you  support  the  rod  with  one 
hand  and  polish  with  the  other.  This  of 
course  applies  to  tips,  too. 

iiii iii;^r"ir^"iii    'II' i^*"i.  I  1 1 


split  Bamboo  Tournament  Rod  with  Cylindrical  Cork 
Handgrasp. 


Bethabara  Casting  Rod. 


Jucara   Prieto   Casting  Rod   with   Double   Cord-wound 
Handgrasp. 

Figure  40. 

The  butt  of  your  rod  will  be  32^  inches 
long  when  ready  for  ferrule  and  handgrasps 
(see  Fig.  39).  It  will  taper  from  15-32  at 
the  forward  end  of  grasp  to  19-64  at  the  fer- 
rule, it  being  remembered  that  the  cap  or 
shoulder  on  this  ferrule  Js  1-32  of  an  inch 
larger  than  the  cap  on  its  center. 

At  first  the  tip  may  seem  too  heavy,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  it  should  be  heavier 
in  a  wood  rod  than  in  one  of  split  bamboo, 
and  that  whereas  many  split  bamboo  tourna- 
ment rods  are  made  with  very  little  resiliency 


TWO'PIECE  RODS  105 

in  the  butt,  the  wood  rod,  when  the  tip  is 
placed  on  the  floor  and  pressure  applied,  should 
show  a  nice  arch  for  more  than  half  its  length 
from  the  tip,  while  there  should  be  quite  a  bit 
of  spring  below  the  ferrule.  There  is  no  fixed 
rule  for  determining  how  much  to  take  off  the 
butt.  Testing  it  repeatedly  will  be  the  best 
plan,  but  if  it  still  seems  too  stiff,  the  diameter 
of  the  butt  must  be  reduced  with  the  greatest 
care,  else  you  may  go  too  far.  Placing  the 
ferrule  in  the  center  of  the  rod  requires  more 
care  in  trying  it  out  than  if  there  are  two  fer- 
rules— as  in  a  three-piece  rod — but  practice 
with  reel  and  weight  will  satisfy  you. 

When  the  taper  of  the  butt  joint  suits  you, 
the  grasp  is  put  on  as  described  in  Chapter 
VL,  the  wood  is  finished  as  described  for  the 
tips,  rubbed  with  varnish,  and  it  is  then  ready 
for  winding.  It  is  made  without  pins  through 
ferrule  and  centers,  as  will  be  noted.  Pins  keep 
the  ferrules  in  place,  but  unless  put  in  by  an 
expert  they  may  weaken  the  wood  where  it 
needs  strength,  and  good  cement  may  be  de- 
pended on.  At  most  a  ferrule  may  work  loose, 
but  it  is  merely  necessary  to  warm  it  tempo- 
rarily to  secure  it  until  it  can  be  removed  and 
put  back  with  new  winding  or  a  little  more 
cement. 


106    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

All  of  the  best  rods  are  equipped  with 
pinned  ferrules,  and  they  seldom  work  loose. 
But  these  are  fitted  by  expert  workmen,  aided 
by  the  finest  machine  tools.  As  I  am  writing 
from  the  beginner's  point  of  view,  I  advise 
cement  only.  Should  a  joint  be  broken  while 
you  are  far  from  home,  there  is  no  trouble- 
some pin  to  pick  out.  Instead,  you  warm  the 
ferrule,  push  out  the  broken  wood,  and  set  the 
ferrule  on  a  freshly  fitted  part. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THREE-PIECE  RODS 

THE  most  common  type  known  is  the 
three-piece  rod,  the  separate  parts  of 
which  are  of  equal  length.  The  angler 
who  must  go  far  afield  for  his  fishing  demands 
a  Tod  that  is  compact,  just  as  he  wants  a  take- 
down gun  in  the  autumn.  The  difficulty  expe- 
rienced in  traveling  in  trains  and  street  cars, 
as  well  as  in  walking  through  crowded  streets, 
argues  against  unwieldy  parcels,  and  the  fly  or 
bait  rod  must  be  made  in  lengths  convenient 
to  carry.  The  rodmaker  might  argue  until 
doomsday  in  favor  of  long-joint  rods,  claim- 
ing better  action,  greater  strength,  etc.,  but  he 
could  never  persuade  his  patrons  that  these 
qualities  outweigh  the  greater  handiness  of 
short  joints. 

This  being  true,  the  rodmakers  place  the 
joints  where  they  will  affect  the  action  of  the 
rods  the  least;  namely,  in  two  places,making 
even  an  ii-foot  fly-rod  conveniently  portable 
when  taken  down.  They  carry  this  practice  to 
107 


108    AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

the  longest  salmon  rods,  which  are  nearly  al- 
ways made  in  three  joints,  proving  that  no 
maker  likes  to  place  ferrules  in  the  middle  of 
the  rod — which  is  necessary  in  making  a  four- 
joint  rod.  The  principal  exceptions  are  the 
short  two-piece  salt-water  rods,  which  are 
more  or  less -stiff  throughout  their  length;  and 
the  short  bait-casting  rods. 

In  a  5^ -foot  bait-casting  rod  of  the  neces- 
sary caliber,  two  ferrules  make  the  joints  very 
short,  and  the  stiff  metal  is  actually  about  one- 
eighth  the  total  length  of  the  rod.  Aside  from 
the  fact  that  the  ferrules  in  short  three-piece 
rods  are  placed  to  better  advantage,  the  rod 
made  in  two  pieces  of  equal  lengths  is  to  be 
recommended.  Certainly  it  is  almost  as  easy 
to  make  two  of  this  type  as  one  with  three 
joints  and  an  extra  tip.  When  the  three- 
joint  rod  Is  to  be  made  6  or  6^  feet  long, 
however.  Its  advantages  increase  with  its 
length. 

In  a  5  J^ -foot  rod  made  In  three  pieces  of 
equal  length,  and  of  the  caliber  given  In  Fig. 
29,  the  ferrules  will  be  21-64  Inch,  with  one 
center;  and  13-64  Inch,  with  two  centers,  for 
the  tips.  The  tips  when  completed  and  fitted 
with  tops,  will  be  22^  Inches  long  and  will  be 
tapered  from  13-64  to  7-64.  Finish  these  first. 


THREE-PIECE  RODS         109 

It  IS  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  you  cannot  make 
each  of  the  other  two  joints  one-third  of  the 
total  length  of  the  finished  rod,  for  the  reason 
that  the  tip  is  to  be  pushed  one  inch  into  the 
ferrule  of  the  middle  joint,  and  this  In  turn 
1^8  inches  into  the  ferrule  on  the  butt  joint, 
while  these  two  ferrules  add  to  the  actual 
length  of  the  two  lower  parts. 

A  more  difficult  problem  in  division  and 
addition  it  would  be  hard  to  find.  The  first 
time  I  tried  to  make  a  rod  of  three  pieces  of 
equal  length  I  almost  gave  it  up  in  despair, 
for  despite  what  I  thought  was  exact  calcula- 
tion, the  separate  parts  would  vary  or  the  total 
would  be  too  great.  Finally  I  drew  a  pencil 
mark  on  the  floor  just  5^  feet  long,  and  sit- 
ting down,  puzzled  the  problem  out 'by  plac- 
ing the  three  parts  of  the  rod,  with  the  fer- 
rules beside  them,  on  the  line,  and  measuring 
until  the  adjustments  -were  correct. 

The  actual  length  of  the  middle  joint  will 
be  21%  inches,  for  the  top  or  female  ferrule 
will  extend  i  inch  beyond  the  wood,  making 
this  joint  22^'  inches  when  it  is  finished. 
Taper  the  wood  from  21-64  to  15-64,  it  being 
remembered  that  the  cap  of  the  ferrule  is 
slightly  larger  inside  than  the  caps  of  its  cen- 
ters.    Cement  the  ferrule  on  the  small  end  of 


110    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

the  middle  joint  and  the  center  of  the  butt  fer- 
rule on  the  other  end. 

The  wood  of  the  butt  joint  will  be  2i>^ 
inches  long,  as  the  ferrule  adds  i}i  inches^  to 
its  total  length,  22^  inches.  Taper  it  from 
15-32  at  the  pencil  mark,  indicating  the  upper 
end  of  the  handgrasp,  to  11-32,  to  fit  the  cap 
of  the  ferrule,  which  is  21-64  at  the  small  end. 

You  are  now  ready  for  the  handgrasp,  the 
various  forms  of  which  are  described  in  pre- 
ceding chapters.  Careful  testing  is  necessary 
before  this  rod  can  be  finished,  for  different 
pieces  of  wood  vary  considerably,  and  it  is  sel- 
dom one  can  make  all  the  tapers  just  what  he 
expects  to.  The  two  lower  joints  may  need 
fining  down  until  the  action  suits  you,  and  in 
some  rods  I  have  substituted  19-64  for  the 
21-64-inch  lower  ferrule,  making  a  hollow 
taper  from  handgrasp  forward  a  few  inches, 
then  uniform  taper  to  the  first  ferrule. 

If  the  rod  is  to  be  six  feet  long,  which  will 
make  it  much  sweeter  for  fishing  and  accuracy 
casting — its  three  joints  considered — the  fer- 
rules should  be  15-64  and  21-64.  O^ie  of  my 
favorite  bethabara  rods  is  5  feet  10^  inches 
long  and  it  Is  a  very  pleasant  rod  to  fish  with. 
Its  ferrules  and  calibers  are  the  same  as  those 
given  above. 


CHAPTER   X 

SALT-WATER    RODS 

THE  best  type  of  rod  for  salt-water  fish- 
ing IS  the  long  tip  and  separate  hand- 
grasp.  This  applies  to  all  rods  used  in 
sea  fishing,  whether  for  tarpon,  tuna,  striped 
bass,  weakfish,  or  small  fry,  the  length  and 
weight  depending  on  the  kind  of  fish  angled 
for.  By  using  the  separate  handgrasp,  the 
joint  can  be  made  very  strong,  and  tips  of  dif- 
ferent caliber  or  length  are  available,  one 
handgrasp  serving  for  a  part  of  two  or  more 
rods. 

Two-piece  rods,  with  the  parts  equal  in 
length,  come  next.  Other  styles  are  used  occa- 
sionally. 

Bethabara  is  the  favorite  wood  and  split 
bamboo  is  coming  into  more  general  use  for 
weakfish  rods  and  even  for  larger  fish,  includ- 
ing tuna  and  tarpon. 

It  has  long  been  the  practice  to  equip  heavy 
salt-water  rods  with  two  sets  of  guides,  so  that 
any  inclination  of  the  tip  toward  set  can  be 
in 


112    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

corrected  by  turning  it  half-way  round  and 
using  the  other  guides,  etc.  There  are  objec- 
tions to  this,  due  to  the  possibility  of  the  line 
catching  on  the  lower  guides,  and  among  an- 
glers for  big  sea  fish  there  are  many  who  favor 
one  set  of  guides  only.  The  strain  of  trolling, 
and  of  fighting  and  landing  heavy  fish  on  a 
long  line  will  permanently  set  any  tip,  but  this 
can  be  corrected  now  and  then  so  that  the 
fault  is  not  important. 

I  will  give  the  specifications  of  three  salt- 
water rods  I  have  made  at  various  times,  the 
material  of  all  being  bethabara,  and  each  being 
a  useful  type.     They  are  illustrated  in  Fig.  41. 

Tarpon  Rod. — Length,  6  feet  ioj4  inches; 
tip,  5  feet  5J4  inches.  Handgrasp,  21  inches, 
wound  with  celluloid  and  fitted  with  a  rubber 
button.  Swell  of  handgrasp,  i  11-32  inches. 
Reel-seat,  i  1-16.  inches  in  diameter.  Taper 
of  tip,  29-32  to  5-16  inch,  uniform  throughout. 
Caliber  of  agate  stirrup-tube  top,  }i  inch. 
First  set  of  trumpet  guides,  9  inches  from  top; 
second  set,  spaced  14  inches;  third  set,  spaced 
17  inches;  set  of  agate  hand  guides,  25  inches 
from  reel.    The  weight  is  about  24  ounces. 

Surf-Casting  Rod, — Length,  6  feet  iij4 
inches;  tip,  4  feet  iiji  inches.  Handgrasp, 
2554  inches  long,  or  22 J^  inches  to  center  of 


SALT-WATER  RODS         113 

reel.  Swell  of  grasp,  13-16  inches.  Material, 
a  greenheart  17-32-inch,  core,  covered  with 
solid  cork,  making  a  very  light  as  well  as 
springy  butt  whose  core  is  of  the  same  diam- 
eter as  the  tip,  of  which  it  is  really  a  continu- 
ation. Reel-seat,  %  inch,  fitted  for  a  250-yard 
reel.  Tip  calibers:  ferrule  center,  17-32  inch; 
6  inches  forward,  17-32;  12  inches,  ^;  18 
inches,  15-32;  24  inches,  7-16;  30  inches, 
13-32;  36  inches,  ^;  42  inches,  21-64;  4^ 
inches,  9-32;  54  inches,  17-64;  at  top,  j^  inch. 
Top,  stirrup-tube,  5-16  caliber;  raised  agate 
guide,  10 j4  inches  from  top,  with  the  second 
guide  14  inches  below  the  first  and  36  inches 
from  the  reel.  Guide  calibers,  5-16  and  ^ 
inch. 

This  rod  weighs  only  13  ounces.  It  was 
designed  for  the  regulation  2^ -ounce  lead 
weight  in  long  distance  tournament  casting,  but 
will  also  handle  a  3-  or  4-ounce  sinker  nicely, 
this  weight  being  necessary  in  casting  in  the 
surf,  where  the  combers  will  pick  up  a  lighter 
weight  and  carry  it  into  shoal  water.  It  also 
has  tremendous  power  for  its  weight,  and  is 
resilient  throughout  its  entire  length,  in  which 
It  differs  from  rods  having  Heavy,  stiff  hand- 
grasps;  is  a  pleasant  rod  to  fish  with,  and  one 
can  cast  a  2 J^ -ounce  weight  175  to  200  feet 


114    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

with  very  little  effort.  The  grasp  Is  made  in 
the  manner  Illustrated  In  Fig.  35,  but  the  core 
Is  largest  under  the  reel,  then  tapers  to  about 
^  Inch  at  the  butt,  making  It  In  fact  a  double- 
tapered  rod. 

The  grasp  Is  so  light  that  tips  of  small  cali- 
ber and  length  are  available,  but  for  all-round 
sea  fishing  the  handgrasp  should  be  made 
about  six  Inches  shorter. 

Light  Salt-Water  Rod, — Length,  6  feet  % 
inch;  joints,  36^^  Inches.  Weight,  13  ounces. 
Handgrasp,  double,  cord-wound;  length,  2 1 
Inches.  Swell  of  lower  grasp,  ij^  Inches;  of 
upper  grasp,  i  Inch.  Diameter  of  reel-seat, 
%  inch.  Taper,  handgrasp  to  ferrule,  uni- 
form, 35-64  to  29-64;  ferrule  center,  7-16 
inch.  Caliber  of  tip  6  inches  from  center, 
13-32;  12  Inches,  25-64;  18  Inches,  11-32;  24 
inches,  21-64;  30  Inches,  9-32;  at  top,  15-64 
Inch.  Top,  stIrrup-tube,  agate,  5-16;  bell 
guide,  9^  Inches  from  top;  second  guide,  5-16, 
agate,  spaced  lyjE^  inches,  and  27  inches  from 
reel. 

This  rod  is  pleasant  to  use  for  medium-sized 
sea  fish,  and  handles  the  standard  2  >4 -ounce 
weight  nicely.  In  one  of  the  tournaments  of 
the  Anglers'  Club  of  New  York  in  Central 
Park  five  contestants  used  this  rod,  the  best 
cast  with  It  being  190  feet. 


SALT-WATER  RODS         115 

aUtii.  I    II     I     I     I      igi     I     I     I     I     ■>     I  .  I     I    ■■  »^ 

Tarpon  Rod. 


Surf-Casting  Rod, 


Light  Salt-Water  Rod. 
Figure  41. 

The  details  of  construction  for  similar  light 
weight  wood  rods,  already  given,  will  apply  to 
these  salt-water  rods,  save  that  heavier  mate- 
rial will  be  needed.  For  my  tarpon  rod  I 
obtained  bethabara  i  inch  square;  for  the  surf 
rod,  }i  inch;  for  butt  of  two-piece  rod,  ^ 
inch,  and  for  tip,  }4  inch. 

In  making  handgrasps  for  rods  of  this  class 
I  leave  the  wood  core  somewhat  rough,  in 
order  that  the  glue  will  have  better  holding 
ground  than  if  the  core  were  polished  smooth. 

Merely  to  give  an  idea  of  the  expense,  in 
time  and  cash,  to  the  amateur  rodmaker,  I 
give  below  the  following  data  relating  to  these 
three  rods.    All  are  bethabara. 

Tarpon  Rod. — Cost  of  material,  about 
$7.50;  time  required,  ten  hours. 

Surf  Rod. — Cost  of  material,  about  $6; 
time  required,  about  seven  hours. 


116    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

Light  Salt- Water  Rod. — Material,  $4; 
time,    nine    hours. 

If  the  surf  rod  is  made  of  dagama,  pur- 
chased in  billet  form,  the  cost  can  be  reduced 
somewhat.  The  time  given  above  refers  only 
to  finishing  and  mounting  the  rod,  and  does 
not  include  winding  and  varnishing. 


CHAPTER   XI 

BASS  AND  TROUT  FLY-RODS 

IF  the  beginner  is  determined  to  make  an 
all-wood  fly-rod  before  attempting  to  build 
one  of  split  bamboo,  the  directions  previ- 
ously given  for  three-joint  bait-rods  will  apply 
here,  with  the  exception  that  the  joints  must 
be  made  somewhat  longer,  the  taper  slower, 
and  the  reel-seat  is  placed  below  the  hand. 
Straight-grained  bethabara  makes  a  nice  fly- 
rod  of  medium  weight,  and  dagama  works 
well. 

It  is  scarcely  advisable  for  the  novice  to 
begin  his  rodmaking  on  a  split  bamboo  trout 
fly-rod  of  light  weight,  for  the  tips  run  so  small 
that  one  can  hardly  expect  to  .do  creditable 
work  on  them  at  first.  But  bass  fly-rods  of 
654  or  7  ounces  are  easier  to  build,  and  after 
you  have  had  some  experience  with  butts  and 
joints,  tip  making  will  not  present  insurmount- 
able difliculties. 

Below  are  given  the  calibers  of  three  typical 
fly-rods  that  are  excellent  for  fishing.     They 
117 


118    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

have  seen  hard  service.  All  are  hexagonal 
bamboo.  The  handgrasps  are  solid  cork,  the 
hand  guides  agate,  the  other  guides  of  steel, 
snake-pattern,  and  the  tops  loose  steel  rings: 

Heavy  Fly-Rod. — Length,  9  feet  8  inches; 
weight,  7  ounces.  Joints,  39^  inches  long. 
Grasp,  g}i  inches  long,  inclusive  of  ^-inch 
reel-seat.  Ferrules,  serrated,  waterproof, 
21-64  and  13-64.  Calibers:  at  taper,  j^  inch; 
12  inches  from  butt,  7-16;  18  inches,  13-32; 
2  feet,  25-64;  2y2  feet,  ^;  3  feet,  23-64; 
3K,  11-32;  4  feet,  5-16;  4>^  feet,  19-64;  5 
feet,  9-32;  5>4  feet,  17-64;  6  feet,  }i;  6y2 
feet,  15-64;  7  feet,  3-16;  7>^  feet,  11-64;  8 
feet,  9-64;  8>^  feet,  }i\  9  feet,  7-64;  at  top, 
5-64  inch. 

Medium  Weight  Fly-Rod. — ^Length,  9^/^ 
feet;  joints,  38^^  inches.  Weight,  6  to  6>^ 
ounces.  Grasp,  9^^  inches;  reel-seat,  ^  inch. 
Ferrules,  serrated,  waterproof,  19-64  and 
3-16.      Calibers:  butt  joint,   at  taper,    13-32; 

1  foot   from   butt,    25-64;    i^    feet,    23-64; 

2  feet,  11-32;  2^  feet,  21-64;  3  feet,  19-64. 
Middle  joint,  6  inches,  19-64;  i  foot,  9-32; 
iy2  feet,  17-64;  2  feet,  15-64;  2>^  feet,  7-32; 

3  feet,  13-64.  Tips,  6  inches,  11-64;  i  foot, 
5-32;  1 14  feet,  9-64;  2  feet,  J^  ;  2>^  feet,  7-64; 

Trout    Fly-Rod. — Length,    9    feet;    joints, 


BASS  AND  TROUT  FLY-RODS    119 

36^  inches.  Weight,  5J4  ounces  with  ^-inch 
metal  reel-seat;  with  reel  bands  instead,  a  little 
less  than  5  ounces.  Grasp,  9  inches  long. 
Ferrules,  serrated,  waterproof,  9-32  and  11-64 
inch.  Calibers:  butt  joint,  at  taper,  7-16;  i 
foot  from  butt,  25-64;  i^  feet,  11-32;  2  feet, 
21-64;  23^  feet,  5-16;  3  feet,  19-64.  Middle 
joint,  6  inches,  9-32;  i  foot,  17-64;  i^  feet, 
15-64;  2  feet,  7-32;  2y2  feet,  13-64;  3  feet, 
3-16.  Tips,  6  Inches,  11-64;  i  foot,  5-32; 
lyi  feet,  yi;  2  feet,  7-64;  2^^  feet,  3-32; 
3  feet,  5-64  inch. 


Split-Bamboo  Bass  Fly-Rod. 


Split-Bamboo  Trout  Fly-Rod. 
Figure  42. 

Ordinary  sumach,  obtainable  in  any  thicket, 
is  nicely  adapted  to  use  for  light  handgrasps 
where  reel  bands  are  to  be  used.  It  is  green- 
ish-yellow when  varnished,  but  can  be  stained 
nicely  to  resemble  cedar  or  cherry,  then  var- 
nished. 

Tournament  fly-rods  are  allowed  }i  of  an 
ounce  for  metal  reel-seats;  therefore  a  rod  just 


120    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

under  4%  ounces  will  be  admitted  to  the  four- 
ounce  class,  and  one  just  under  5^  ounces  to 
the  five-ounce  class,  if  each  has  a  metal  reel- 
seat    The  length  limit  is  1 1  ^  feet. 

Five-ounce  tournament  rods  are  usually  lO 
feet  long  and  much  stiffer  than  rods  made  ex- 
clusively for  fishing,  but  they  are  pleasant  to 
fish  with,  particularly  on  windy  days,  with  a 
heavy  double  tapered  line. 

Heavy  single-hand  tournament  rods  that  are 
admitted  to  the  open-to-all  trout  fly  contests 
are  limited  only  in  length,  to  11^  feet,  but 
may  be  any  weight.  In  the  East  these  seldom 
weigh  more  than  10^  ounces  and  are  gener- 
ally 1 1  feet  long,  but  in  the  West  1 1  feet  5 
inches  is  a  favorite  length,  and  some  rods 
weigh  as  much  as  13  ounces.  These  are  ex- 
tremely stiff,  and  they  are  powerful  enough  to 
lift  100  or  more  feet  of  heavy  tapered  line  out 
of  the  water. 

The  grasps  are  12  to  15  inches  long,  and 
the  rods  taper  from  about  ^  inch  at  the  grasp 
to  7-64  at  the  top,  with  long  and  heavy  split 
or  serrated  ferrules.  These  vary  in  caliber,  but 
are  about  }i  and  j4  i^^ch  in  diameter.  The 
middle  joint  is  heavy  and  tapers  very  little  at 
the  lower  end. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SALMON   FLY-RODS 

SINCE  the  earliest  days  of  fly-fishing  sal- 
mon fly-rods  have  been  made  of  solid 
wood,  and  to-day,  although  split  bamboo 
is  largely  used  for  all  other  fly-rods,  there  is  a 
steady  demand  for  solid  wood  salmon  fly-rods. 
In  Great  Britain  greenheart  salmon  rods  are 
still  the  favorites  with  a  vast  number  of  the 
anglers,  and  it  is  likely  wood  rods  will  never 
be  entirely  replaced  by  those  of  split  bamboo 
for  salmon  fishing. 

In  America  the  demand  for  salmon  rods  is 
small,  for  comparatively  few  of  our  anglers 
go  to  the  Northern  and  Northeastern  waters 
for  these  noble  fish,  and  while  those  who  prefer 
split  bamboo  rods  for  trout  and  bass  fishing 
often  wish  to  use  rods  of  the  same  material 
when  they  fish  for  salmon,  a  great  many  favor 
wood  rods. 

For  tournament  casting  I  prefer  split  bam- 
boo to  wood  in  all  rods,  but  split  bamboo  sal- 
mon rods  are  very  expensive  and  a  well-made 

121 


122    AMATEUR   RODMAJSiING 

wood  rod  will  give  its  owner  a  great  deal  of 
satisfaction.  Furthermore,  it  is  not  so  difficult 
to  make  as  some  of  the  thinner  fly-rods. 

In  a  rod  whose  length  ranges  from  thirteen 
to  eighteen  feet  and  with  a  weight  of  23  to 
32  ounces  or  more,  stiffness  in  the  rod  requires 
muscle  in  the  angler.  To  wield  a  stiff  bamboo 
rod  of  25  ounces  and  a  long  and  heavy  line 
during  several  hours'  fishing  taxes  the  angler's 
strength  more  than  does  a  whippy  rod  of 
greater  weight,  and  this  is  one  reason  why 
wood  rods  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  salmon 
fishing.  A  nicely  proportioned  wood  rod  has 
good  action  and  with  it  a  fly  can  be  cast  and 
fished  with  less  exertion  at  ordinary  salmon 
fly-casting  distances  than  is  possible  with  the 
stiffer  bamboo  rod,  hence  anglers  of  small 
stature  and  average  strength  are  likely  to  favor 
wood  rods. 

Again,  the  split  bamboo  rod  does  not  begin 
to  work  until  a  certain  length  of  line  is  ex- 
tended; that  is,  it  requires  the  pull  of  a  long 
line  to  make  the  rod  spring  properly.  With- 
out this  spring  the  fly  cannot  be  cast  neatly  at 
any  distance.  Have  you  ever  tried  to  cast  a 
fly  with  a  stiff  bait  rod?  You  have  sufficient 
power  in  the  rod,  but  lack  the  weight  of  line 
that  is  necessary  to  get  the  snap  that  sends  the 
line  in  a  rolling  loop  through  the  air.    Try  as 


SALMON  FLY-RODS  123 

hard  as  you  like,  you  will  never  be  able  to  cast 
a  fly  ten  yards.  The  wood  salmon  rod  is  pro- 
portionately as  flexible  as  the  whippiest  trout 
rod,  therefore  but  little  muscle  and  weight  of 
line  are  necessary  to  develop  its  spring,  and  its 
user  can  cast  lightly  and  sweetly  at  fifty  or  one 
hundred  feet — for  the  rod  does  most  of  the 
work. 

In  salmon  fishing  rods,  great  power  is  not  of 
vital  importance,  for  any  one  of  these  rods  is 
capable  of  handling  lOO  to  125  feet  of  double 
tapered  line,  and  that  means  that  they  can  be 
depended  on  to  kill  the  biggest  salmon.  It  is 
essential  to  kill  these  royal  fish  on  the  rod  and 
to  gaff  them  only  after  their  fight  is  ended; 
therefore,  a  nicely  balanced  wood  rod  will  an- 
swer, it  being  conceded  that  bamboo  will  be 
less  likely  to  give  way  to  the  accidents  that 
may  occur  on  any  game  fish  stream. 

Salmon  fly-casting  has  grown  more  and  more 
popular  among  the  clubs  that  practice  fly-cast- 
ing as  a  pastime,  and  men  who  have  never  seen 
a  salmon  river  and  probably  never  will  see  one 
have  become  adepts  with  the  salmon  rod  and 
its  heavy  line  and  leader.  It  appeals  to  many 
who  do  not  care  for  the  contests  with  four  and 
five-ounce  trout  fly-rods,  and  it  is  an  exceed- 
ingly fascinating  game. 

For  a  long  time  the  maximum  limit  to  the 


124    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

length  of  tournament  salmon  rods  was  placed 
at  eighteen  feet,  but  in  1907  this  was  changed 
by  the  National  Association  and  the  limit 
placed  at  fifteen  feet.  This  is  in  line  with  the 
desire  to  use  lighter  tackle,  and  it  also  enables 
salmon  fishermen  to  use  their  thirteen,  four- 
teen,  and  fifteen-foot  fishing  rods  in  tourna- 
ments, placing  them  on  fairly  even  terms  with 
contestants  whose  rods  are  made  for  distance 
casting  only,  but  which  would  be  rather  stiff 
for  all-day  angling. 

Of  all  the  fly-rods,  the  salmon  rod  is  the 
easiest  one  for  the  novice  to  build  from  solid 
wood,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  get  excellent  results  from  such  a  rod  con- 
structed for  use  exclusively  in  what  is  termed 
tournament  casting;  in  other  words,  all  casting 
for  practice  or  for  record. 

I  give  the  specifications  of  three  salmon  rods 
that  I  have  used  with  satisfaction  in  tourna- 
ment casting,  and  these  are  illustrated  in  Fig- 
ure 43. 

Split  Bamboo  Salmon  Rod. — Length,  14 
feet  iij^  inches;  joints,  5  feet  i  inch;  weight, 
26  ounces;  material,  six-strip  Calcutta  bamboo. 
Handgrasp,  double,  24  inches  long,  solid  cork 
fitted  to  bamboo  direct.  Length  of  lower 
grasp,    7    inches;    diameter,    i  3-16;   buttcap. 


SALMON  FLY'RODS         125 

I  1-16;  reel-seat,  6  inches  long,  i  inch  in  diam- 
eter; upper   grasp,    11    inches   long,    diameter 

I  3-16.  Calibers:  24  inches  from  butt,  at 
taper,  41-64;  30  inches,  ^  ;  3  feet,  39-64;  3>^ 
feet,  19-32;  4  feet,  37-64;  4>^  feet,  35-64. 
Ferrule,  capped,  welted,  and  serrated,  4j4 
inches  long.  Middle  joint:  Ferrule,  3^ 
inches  long,  17-32;  6  inches  from  bottom, 
17-32;  12  inches,  >^;  18  inches,  >^  ;  2  feet, 
31-64;  2y2  feet,  15-32;  3  feet,  7-16;  2V2  feet, 
13-32;  4  feet,  %\  4>^  feet,  11-32;  ferrule, 
capped,  welted,  and  serrated,  3^  inches  long. 
Tips:  Ferrule,  2^  inches  long,  21-64;  6 
inches,  5-16;  12  inches,  19-64;  18  inches, 
9-32;  2  feet,  17-64;  2^  feet,  15-64;  3  feet, 
13-64;  3>^  feet,  3-16;  4  feet,  11-64;  4>^  feet, 
9-64;  at  top,  }i  inch.  Tops,  loose  ring,  steel. 
Guides:  First,  agate,  5-16;  balance  hard  steel 
snake  guides,  fifteen  in  all. 

Bethahara  Salmon  Rod. — Length,    14   feet 

II  inches;  joints,  5  feet;  weight,  28  ounces. 
Handgrasp,  double,  24  inches  long,  other  di- 
mensions same  as  split  bamboo.  Calibers:  24 
inches  from  butt,  ^  inch;  30  inches,  45-64; 
3  feet,  43-64;  3/^  feet,  ^;  4  feet,  19-32; 
4j^  feet,  9-16;  ferrule,  capped  and  welted,  3% 
inches  long.  Middle  joint:  Ferrule,  2% 
inches  long,  17-32  diameter;  6  inches,   17-32; 


126    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


Fifteen-foot  Split  Bamboo  Salmon  Rod. 


Fourteen-foot  Bethabara  Salmon  Rod. 
Figure  43. 

1  foot,  33-64;  18  inches,  33-64;  2  feet,  J^  ;  2j4 
feet,  31-64;  3  feet,  15-32;  3/^  feet,  27-64;  4 
feet,  13-32;  4j^  feet,  25-64;  ferrule,  capped 
and  welted,  2/4  inches  long.     Tips:     Ferrule, 

2  inches  long,  23-64;  6  inches,  11-32;  i  foot, 
21-64;  18  inches,  5-16;  2  feet,  19-64;  2>^  feet, 
9-32;  3  feet,  }i;  3y2  feet,  7-32;  4  feet,  3-16; 
4^2  feet,  5-32;  at  top,  %  inch.  Top,  loose 
steel  ring.     Guides,  same  as  on  bamboo  rod. 

Bethabara  Salmon  Rod, — Length,  14  feet; 
joints,  57>4  inches;  weight,  25^  ounces. 
Handgrasp,  same  as  on  other  rods.  Calibers: 
24  inches  from  butt,  51-64;  2>^   feet,  43-64; 

3  feet,  41-64;  3y2  feet,  39-64;  4  feet,  37-64; 
4^  feet,  37-64;  ferrule,  capped  and  welted, 
3^  inches  long.  Middle  joint:  Ferrule, 
17-32;    6   inches,    17-32;    i    foot,    33-64;    18 


SALMON  FLY'RODS         127 

inches,  >^  ;  2  feet,  31-64;  2j4  feet,  15-32;  3 
feet,  7-16;  3^  feet,  13-32;  4  feet,  23-64;  4>^ 
feet,  11-32;  ferrule,  capped  and  welted,  2H 
Inches  long.  Tips:  Ferrule,  21-64;  6  inches, 
5-16;  I  foot,  9-32;  18  inches,  17-64;  2  feet, 
}i;  2y2  feet,  15-64;  3  feet,  7-32;  314  feet, 
13-64;  4  feet,  11-64;  4^  feet,  9-64;  at  top, 
%  inch.  Top,  loose  steel  ring.  Guides,  one 
agate,  balance  steel  snake  ring,  fourteen  in  all. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

ON  THE   HISTORY  OF  THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD 

WHEN  and  where  were  split  bamboo 
fishing  rods  first  made,  and  by 
whom?  This  is  a  question  that  has 
been  discussed  in  the  press  of  Great  Britain 
and  America  for  very  many  years.  It  is  gen- 
erally conceded  that  the  idea  originated  in  Eng- 
land, but  the  three-section  rod  was  the  only 
development  of  the  idea  there;  while  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic — if  all  available  testimony 
is  trustworthy — the  four-section  rod  came  first, 
and  the  hexagonal  method  followed  very 
shortly,   to   stay. 

Whether  the  four-strip  rod  as  made  in  Eng- 
land was  copied  from  those  made  here  is  un- 
known, or  so  it  seems,  but  the  evidence  at 
hand  points  to  that  conclusion,  since  the  four- 
strip  rod  was  commented  on  in  the  English 
press  of  the  early  70's  as  something  new, 
whereas  four-strip  rods  had  been  commonly 
made  here  for  a  number  of  years  previously. 
The  first  mention  of  glued-up  bamboo  rods 
128 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROB    129 

that  I  have  been  able  to  find  bears  the  date 
1805,  as  appears  farther  on.  One  Clark  of 
London  was  said  to  be  "  the  unrivalled  maker  " 
of  such  rods,  and  from  this  it  is  natural  to 
infer  that  other  rodmakers  were  at  that  time 
working  bamboo  into  rods. 

The  first  split  bamboo  rod  to  be  made  in 
America  was  produced  by  Samuel  Phillipe,  of 
Easton,  Pa.,  in  1845,  according  to  Dr.  James 
A.  Henshall,  who  has  devoted  a  great  deal  of 
time  to  obtaining  the  facts.  This  was  a  four- 
strip  rod. 

The  first  six-strip  split  bamboo  rod  to  be 
made  anywhere  was  the  invention  of  Hiram 
L.  Leonard,  then  of  Bangor,  Maine.  The  late 
William  Mitchell — himself  a  veteran  rod- 
maker — said  that  the  Leonard  rods  were  put 
on  the  market  about  1870.  No  improvement 
worthy  of  the  name  has  ever  been  invented  to 
replace  six  strips  for  rod  joints,  and  to-day 
they  are  conceded  to  be  the  last  word  in  rod- 
making.  Seven-strip  rods  were  at  one  time 
made,  notably  by  Edward  Vom  Hofe,  of  New 
York,  now  deceased;  and  eight-strip  rods  have 
been  and  are  still  occasionally  made  by  a  num- 
ber of  firms;  while  rods  in  which  the  butts  are 
very  heavy — as  salmon  and  salt-water  rods — 
are  commonly  made  of  six  pairs  of  strips.    In 


130    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

these,  two  strips  of  rectangular  section  are  first 
glued  together,  to  attain  the  necessary  thick- 
ness, then  planed  to  triangular  section.  The 
method  is  commonly  called  **  double  enamel." 

A  few  British  makers  claim  to  have  im- 
proved the  six-strip  rod  by  adding  steel  cen- 
ters; by  winding  with  steel  ribbons;  and  by 
making  them  of  treble  enamel.  But  all  these 
things  may  better  be  called  selling  points  than 
improvements. 

In  the  old-time  angling  books  some  writers 
say  the  enamel  of  the  cane  should  be  placed 
on  the  outside  of  the  joint.  That  is  readily 
understood,  and  experience  has  shown  that  it 
is  the  only  reliable  method.  Other  writers 
mention  the  placing  of  the  enamel  on  the  inside 
of  the  joint.  At  this  day  such  workmanship 
would,  if  advocated,  be  ridiculed.  The  first 
reason  for  placing  the  enamel  outside  Is  to  re- 
tain as  much  as  possible  of  the  natural  strength 
of  the  cane;  the  enamel  surface,  being  uneven, 
may  be  more  easily  offset  by  matching  if  placed 
outside;  and  finally,  this  enamel  surface,  even 
when  planed  down  slightly,  offers  poor  hold- 
ing ground  for  glue. 

In  the  accompanying  sketch  Fig.  44  shows  a 
section  ready  for  the  glueing  of  the  three  strips 
with  the  enamel  outside.    In  Fig.  45  one  of  the 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROB    131 


Figure  44.  Figure  45. 


two  methods  that  were  possible  in  placing  the 
enamel  inside  is  shown,  the  heavy  lines  indi- 
cating the  enamel  side  of  each  strip.  The  re- 
maining method  may  have  been  that  illustrated 
in  Fig.  46,  but  it  is  hardly  to  be  believed  that 


Figure  46. 

expert  workmen  would  have  cut  away  all  of 
the  enamel  in  making  their  strips,  since  they 
must  have  tested  strips  for  stiffness  and  recov- 
ering power,  both  before  and  after  planing. 

There  is  now,  and  always  has  been,  no 
doubt,  but  a  step  or  two  from  bow  and  arrow 
making  to  fishing  rod  building.     When  good 


132    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

yew  became  so  scarce  In  Europe  that  bow- 
makers  were  compelled  to  turn  to  other  ma- 
terials, they  began  to  glue  two  varieties  of 
tough  wood  together,  and  such  bows  were 
called  backed  bows,  to  distinguish  them  from 
self  bows,  or  those  made  of  one  piece  of  wood. 
It  Is  said  that  the  old-time  rodmakers  em- 
ployed bowmakers  to  help  them,  and  as  these 
men  were  probably  experts  in  making  backed 
bows,  it  is  likely  that  they  suggested  splitting 
canes  to  obtain  excellent  material  for  rods  or 
parts  of  rods. 

If  Phillipe,  the  gunsmith  of  Easton,  Pa., 
was  the  originator  of  split  bamboo  rods  In 
America,  as  it  Is  claimed  he  was,  it  is  just  pos- 
sible that  he,  too,  obtained  the  idea  from  one 
of  the  old  bows;  for  at  that  time  it  Is  likely 
that  Imported  bows  were  more  common  in 
America  than  Imported  fishing  rods. 

It  has  also  been  suggested  that  Phillipe 
might  have  seen  an  English  rod  made  of  three 
strips  of  cane  glued  up,  and  at  once  concluded 
that  a  better  rod  could  be  made  of  four  than 
three  strips.  But  it  is  not  likely  that  he  was 
a  copyist,  since  Dr.  Henshall  mentions  several 
articles  that  he  made,  as  well  as  rods.  Living, 
as  he  did,  far  In  the  interior,  it  is  more  reason- 
able to  believe  that  he  worked  out  the  four- 
strip  idea  without  assistance  of  any  sort. 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROB    133 

The  extracts  and  comments  which  follow 
will,  I  believe,  be  read  with  more  than  passing 
interest  by  the  young  anglers,  few  of  whom 
have  ever  seen  a  four-strip  split  bamboo — or, 
as  our  British  cousins  call  it,  split  cane  rod. 
And  yet,  it  was  only  ten  years  ago  that  I 
watched  with  interest  the  making  of  four-strip 
rods  by  one  of  the  old-time  gunsmith-rod- 
makers  of  the  Middle  West. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Hugh  T.  Shering- 
ham,  angling  editor  of  the  Field  of  London,  I 
have  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  following 
from  "  Fishes  and  Fishing,"  by  W.  Wright 
(London,  Thomas  Cantley,   1858)  : 

"  In  1805  I  became  acquainted  with  a  Welsh 
gentleman,  Mr.  L.,  whose  description  of  fly 
fishing  for  trout  and  sewin  fired  my  imagina- 
tion, and  I  determined  to  become  a  fly  fisher. 
.  •  .  At  my  request  he  (Mr.  H.,  not  Mr.  L.) 
introduced  me  to  an  old  Welshman  named 
David  Williams,  whom  Mr.  H.  had  drilled 
into  making  rods  according  to  his  plan;  this 
Williams  was  acquainted  with  Clark,*  the  un- 
rivalled maker  of  glued-up  bamboo  fly  rods, 

*  Mr.  Sachs  said  of  Clark :  **  I  have  endeavored  to  find 
out  who  this  Clark  could  have  been,  but  even  the  assist- 
ance of  one  in  the  forefront  of  the  trade,  who  can  com- 
mand tradition  going  back  eighty  years,  could  produce 
nothing  definite.  The  only  Clark  was  one  living  at  ii 
St.  Johns  Lane,  Clerkenwell,  but  tradition  does  not  re- 
cord him  as  a  maker  of  built-up  rods." 


134    AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

the  most  excellent  of  all  rods.  I  obtained 
about  ten  sticks  of  the  proper  cane,  and  Wil- 
liams induced  Clark  to  make  one  for  me,  and 
another  for  my  friend,  Mr.  L." 

Mr.  Sheringham  adds  that  in  the  Field  of 
March  26,  1904,  E.  T.  Sachs  **  speaks  with 
certainty  of  one  Ustonson  of  Bell-yard  as  a 
maker  of  such  rods  (built  up),  though  not  of 
cane,  and  there  was  another  maker  living  in  a 
West  of  England  town.  Ten  years  or  so  since 
I  was  shown  a  built-up  rod  by  the  late  Mr. 
Chevalier,  formerly  in  Bell-yard,  which  had 
been  made  some  sixty  years  previously. 

''  When  the  first  six-strip  rod  was  made  I 
do  not  know,"  Mr.  Sheringham  concludes, 
**  but  I  am  informed  by  an  old  established 
tackle  maker  that  Eaton  &  Deller  of  London, 
E.  C,  were  the  beginners  on  this  side,  and 
that  they  got  the  idea  from  your  side." 

While  Mr.  Sheringham  thinks  that  Eaton  & 
Deller  were  the  first  to  copy  the  American 
hexagonal  rods,  R.  B.  Marston  thinks  differ- 
ently.   In  a  personal  letter  to  me  he  said: 

'*  In  the  70's,  I  believe,  J.  D.  Dougall,  a 
gunmaker  of  Glasgow,  was  the  first  to  import 
these  rods  [hexagonal],  and  then  Bowness  of 
London.  The  hexagonal  American  split  canes 
were  a  novelty  and  very  expensive;  but  our 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD    135 

makers  soon  began  to  make  them,  and  now  I 
doubt  if  you  could  tell  whether  one  was  made 
in  England  or  America — that  is,  the  best 
makes.'' 

With  this  opinion  I  cannot  agree,  although 
I  will  admit  that  the  best  makes  of  British  rods 
exhibited  in  this  country  during  the  last  three 
years  have  been  far  superior  to  the  same  sort 
sent  over  ttn  or  more  years  ago.  In  some  of 
their  so-called  best  rods  the  joining  of  the 
strips  is  very  bad,  while  for  some  reason  best 
known  to  themselves,  British  makers  stub- 
bornly cling  to  those  abominable  contrivances, 
the  lock-fast  ferrules,  and  refuse  to  believe — 
what  was  common  knowledge  on  this  side  a 
generation  ago — that  there  is  no  other  ferrule 
worth  while  than  our  common  German  silver 
suction  ferrule.  Using  brass  as  they  do,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  cannot  make 
these  "  stay  put,"  and  must  perforce  resort  to 
locking  devices. 

Our  makers  stand  on  the  platform  that  six 
strips  of  cane  cannot  be  improved  in  any  way 
known  to  science  or  art.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  find  British  makers  resorting  to  all  sorts  of 
devices  that  are  alleged  to  be  intended  to  stiffen 
or  strengthen  their  rods.  Some  put  steel  cen- 
ters in  the  joints;  others  wind  the  joints  spirally 


136    AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

with  narrow  steel  ribbons  —  both  methods 
clumsy  attempts  to  bolster  up  an  article  that 
evidently  needs  heroic  treatment. 

There  are  firms  in  the  United  States  that 
make  up  butts  and  joints  and  strips  of  split 
bamboo  and  ship  them  in  very  large  lots  to 
Great  Britain.  These  are  made  by  machine 
from  all  grades  of  cane.  The  query  naturally 
suggests  itself,  Do  these  parts  appear  later  in 
the  British  market  as  British  rods? 

At  another  time  Mr.  Marston  said: 

"  I  think  the  first  Englishman  to  make  the 
modern  hexagonal  American  split  cane  rod 
known  in  England  was  a  man  I  knew — a  good 
all-round  sportsman,  who  hunted,  shot,  and 
fished  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  well  known  in 
sporting  literature  as  '  Ubique,'  which  well  de- 
scribed his  roving  spirit;  his  real  name  was 
Parker  Gilmore.  •  .  .  In  1869,  in  his  inter- 
esting book,  '  Gun,  Rod,  and  Saddle,'  he  had 
referred  to  American  fly  rods.  On  page  251 
he  says: 

"  *  Next  to  the  cedar  rod,  but  one  that  will 
stand  any  amount  of  fair  work,  is  the  split 
bamboo;  this,  I  think,  can  be  procured  even 
lighter  than  the  former.  There  is  a  firm,  the 
Messrs.  Clark  [evidently  Clerk]  of  Maiden 
Lane,  New  York,  who  make  this  a  specialite. 


TBE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD    137 

I  never  had  the  good  fortune  to  use  one,  but 
have  handled  them  often  and  listened  to  the 
raptures  of  experts  on  their  merits;  on  their 
good  qualities  I  believe  I  can  say  nothing  that 
they  do  not  deserve,  but  their  price  is  neces- 
sarily high,  from  the  care  with  which  the  cane 
has  to  be  selected  and  put  together.' " 

The  late  William  Mitchell  of  New  York 
City  said  that  the  first  split  bamboo  rod  that 
he  ever  saw  or  heard  of  was  made  by  William 
Blacker  of  London,  and  to  order,  for  James 
Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  N.  J.  Mr.  Mitchell  re- 
paired this  rod  in  1852,  and  made  a  rod  for 
Its  owner  in  the  previous  year,  keeping  a  rec- 
ord of  both  dates.  In  the  American  Angler 
of  May  19,  1883,  Mr.  Mitchell  gives  these 
additional  data  on  the  subject: 

''  About^  1 860  E.  A.  Green  of  Newark,  N.  J., 
made  the  first  complete  split  bamboo  rod.  This 
date  cannot  be  far  astray,  for  Mr.  Green  made 
— that  is,  glued  up — for  the  trade  a  few;  and 
I  find  my  record,  made  at  the  time,  to  be  Sept. 
16,  1863.  These  rods  were  made  in  four  sec- 
tions. .  .  .  In  1863  or  1864  Mr.  Murphy, 
an  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Green,  commenced  to 
manufacture  split  bamboo  rods  for  the  trade. 
These  were  In  four  sections. 

"  The  first  rods  constructed  In  six  sections 


138    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

that  were  put  into  the  market  were  made  by 
H.  L.  Leonard  of  Bangor,  Maine.  ^  This  was 
about  1870,  and  Dr.  A.  H.  Fowler  soon  fol- 
lowed. Mr.  Murphy,  however,  claims  to  have 
made  one  some  time  before. 

*'  The  first  split  balnboo  rod  that  I  made 
myself  was  in  June,  1869.  It  was  put  together 
in  four  sections;  made,  not  of  Calcutta  bam- 
boo, but  of  Chinese,  which  is  much  harder, 
homogeneous,  and  more  difficult  to  obtain 
than   the    former." 

As  Mr.  Mitchell  was,  in  his  time,  one  of 
the  really  great  rodmakers,  it  is  of  more  than 
passing  interest  to  give  his  opinion  as  to  the 
value  of  the  enamel  on  Calcutta  bamboo.  Re- 
ferring to  the  burning  of  the  culms,  he  says 
that,  as  you  cannot  retain  all  the  enamel  on 
the  rod,  it  is  just  as  strong  if  all  the  enamel 
is  taken  off;  in  fact,  the  enamel  or  silex  on  the 
outside  of  the  bamboo  only  stiffens  but  does 
not  strengthen  it. 

While  all  the  available  testimony  seems  to 
show  that  three-strip  cane  rods  were  made 
first  in  England,  the  following  paragraph  is 
of  particular  interest,  as  it  leads  us  to  believe 
that  four-strip  rods  were  new  in  England  in 
the  early  seventies.  It  was  printed  in  the  Lon- 
don Field  on  May  3,  1873  : 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD    139 

"  We  have  been  requested  by  Mr.  Farlow 
to  inspect  and  test  one  of  his  new  quadrangular 
glued-up  bamboo  rods.  Those  rods  are  made 
of  four  splints  of  bamboo,  cut  into  quarters 
and  laid  together  very  neatly,  stuck  with  some 
strong  cement,  and  further  secured  by  being 
tied  with  a  half-dozen  turns  of  silk  every  two 
inches;  thus  the  outside  of  the  rod  is  one  hard 
surface  of  the  tough,  pliant  skin  of  the  bam- 
boo, the  softer  and  more  pithy  part  being  to- 
wards the  middle. 

*'  The  idea  of  so  constructing  rods  is  not 
new,  but  formerly  they  were  made  in  triangu- 
lar splints  instead  of  quadrangular;  whether  it 
was  from  this  circumstance  or  from  the  work- 
manship or  the  cement  being  less  perfect  we 
cannot  determine,  but  the  old  rods,  though 
they  possessed  great  power  over  a  fish,  yet  cer- 
tainly had  less  spring  and  less  power  of  re- 
covery, and  after  a  good  pulling  and  straining 
did  not  go  back  to  the  straight  line  so  well  as 
these  do,  and  consequently  did  not  cast  as  good 
a  line.  With  one  of  these  little  rods,  which  is 
light  enough  for  a  lady  to  use  comfortably,  we 
cast  twenty  yards  of  line  with  ease  at  the  first 
essay,  with  a  nasty  cross  wind  blowing;  and 
that  is  enough  for  any  single-handed  rod  to 
accomplish." 


140    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

It  was  Dr.  James  A.  Henshall  of  the  United 
States  Fisheries  Bureau  who  said  (in  his 
**Book  of  the  Black  Bass")  that  ''although 
the  manufacture — as  it  is  at  present — is  of 
American  invention,  the  idea,  or  the  principle, 
is  of  English  origin." 

In  September,  19 12,  Dr.  Henshall  wrote  as 
follows  in  the  Fishing  Gazette: 

*'  In  the  first  edition  of  the  *  Book  of  the 
Black  Bass'  (1881)  .  .  .  the  date  of 
Phillipe's  first  rods  was  given  as  1848,  which 
date  was  doubted  by  W.  Mitchell,  who  be- 
lieved jt  should  be  1866,  on  the  authority  of 
Dr.  Wilkinson's  salmon  article  in  Scribner^s 
Magazine."^  But  this  assumption  was  not 
true,  as  Dr.  Wilkinson  afterward  wrote  me  as 
follows :  *  You  are  certainly  right  on  the  split 
bamboo  question.  Mitchell  gives  the  date  of 
Murphy's  rods  as  1863,  ^^^  Murphy  concedes 
priority  to  Phillipe,  and  the  latter's  date  is 
1846.  At  the  time  of  writing  I  could  not  fix 
Murphy's  exact  date.  I  am  now  clearly  of  the 
opinion  that  Phillipe's  son  carelessly  wrote 
1866  in  place  of  1846,  and,  in  fact,  I  remem- 
ber perfectly  well  that  his  figures  were  pretty 
difficult  to  decipher.' 

*Dr.  Wilkinson  said  in  Scribner's  Magazine  (1876) 
that  in  1866  a  gunsmith  of  Easton,  named  Phillips,  made 
a.  split  cane  rod  in  three  sections. 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD    141 

"  In  the  revised  and  extended  edition  of  the 
*  Book  of  the  Black  Bass'  (1904),  there  is 
much  additional  information  on  the  subject, 
and  the  date  of  Phillipe's  first  rods  is  estab- 
lished as  1845  o^  the  testimony  of  contempo- 
raneous fellow-townsmen,  friends,  and  fishing 
companions.  From  the  evidence  now  in  my 
possession,  Phillipe  was  undoubtedly,  indubi- 
tably, and  manifestly  the  first  to  make  a  four- 
strip  or  six-strip  split  bamboo  rod.  Some  of 
his  earliest  rods  were  made  with  an  ash  butt 
and  the  middle  and  top  piece  of  four-strip  split 
bamboo,  one  of  which  is  now  in  my  possession, 
and  was  made  some  seventy  years  ago.  It  is 
1 1  feet  4  inches  in  length,  and  weighs  scant  8 
ounces.  It  is  well  balanced  and  as  perfect  In 
action  as  any  modern  rod. 

**  The  rods  shown  at  the  1851  Fisheries 
Exhibition  by  English  rodmakers  were  all 
three-strip  split  cane  rods,  as  was  also  the  rod 
mentioned  by  Mitchell  as  made  for  Mr.  James 
Stevens  by  Blacker  of  London  in  1852.  The 
late  Prof.  Alfred  M.  Mayer  of  the  Stevens 
Institute  of  Technology,  and  editor  of  the 
Century  Company's  '  Sport  With  Rod  and 
Gun,'  says  of  this  rod:  '  This  rod  is  of  three 
sections,  with  the  enamel  on  the  outside,  and 
was  made  in  1852,  while  Mr.  Stevens  was  in 


142    AMATEUR  RODMAKING 

London.  This  date  has  been  accurately  de- 
termined for  me  by  his  son,  Mr.  Frank 
Stevens.' 

**  At  the  Chicago  World's  Fair,  in  1893,  I 
had  on  exhibition  in  my  department  a  number 
of  Phillipe's  rods  of  four  strips  and  six  strips 
of  split  bamboo,  in  addition  to  the  one  with 
the  ash  butt,  just  mentioned. 

**  Phillipe's  son,  Solon  C.  Phillipe,  informed 
me  that  his  father  made  four-strip  rods  as 
early  as  1845,  ^^d  that  his  books  show  that 
the  first  rod  made  for  sale  was  in  1848  and 
was  a  four-strip  rod  in  three  pieces,  all,  includ- 
ing the  butt,  of  split  bamboo.  He  was  also  a 
gunsmith  and  a  skilled  workmen  in  wood  and 
metal,  and  at  one  time  received  a  silver  medal 
at  the  Franklin  Institute  Fair,  Philadelphia, 
for  a  violin,  and  also  made  the  first  '  Kinney ' 
fishhook  from  a  pattern  furnished  by  Phineus 
Kinney  of  Easton,  Pa. 

**  Archery  bows  and  rod  tops,  and  probably 
entire  rods,  were  made  of  hickory  or  other 
hard  woods  in  England  long  before  Phillipe 
made  his  first  split  bamboo  rod;  but  it  is  not 
at  all  likely  that  he  knew  or  even  heard  of 
such  rods,  living  as  he  did  in  a  small  interior 
town  in  Pennsylvania.  He  at  first  made  rods 
only  for  his  own  use  or  for  friends,  several 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD    143 

years  before  he  made  them  for  Andrew  Clerk 
&  Co." 

An  excellent  description  of  the  method  of 
making  split  bamboo  rods  is  found  in  the  first 
edition  of  Edward  Fitzgibbon's  '^  Handbook 
for  Angling/'  London,  1847.  As  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  salmon  rod,  he  says  he  obtained 
the  following  from  Mr.  Little,  of  15  Fetter 
Lane,  rodmaker  to  His  Royal  Highness, 
Prince   Albert: 

"They  [the  top  arid  middle  joints]  are  to 
be  made  from  the  stoutest  pieces  of  bamboo 
cane,  called  *  jungle '  and  brought  from  India. 
The  pieces  should  be  large  and  straight,  so 
that  you  can  rend  them  well  through  knots  and 
all.  Each  joint  should  ^consist  of  three  rent 
pieces,  split  like  the  foot  of  a  portable  garden 
chair,  and  afterward  glued  together,  not  with 
knot  opposite  to  knot,  or  imperfect  grain  oppo- 
site to  imperfect  grain,  but  the  best  part  oppo- 
site to  that  which  may  be  knotty  or  imperfect, 
so  as  to  equalize  defectiveness  and  goodness. 
The  natural  badness  of  the  cane  you  counter- 
act by  art,  and  none  save  a  clever  workman 
can  do  it. 

"  The  butt  of  a  salmon  rod  should  be  made 
of  plank  ash  or  ground  ash,  though  many  good 
judges   prefer   willow   or   red   deal,    as   being 


144    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

much  lighter,  and  where  lightness  is  required 
the  whole  rod  may  be  made  with  cane.  The 
few  makers  that  have  as  yet  attempted  solid 
cane  or  glued-up  rods,  have  generally  placed 
the  bark  or  hardest  part  of  the  cane  inside  in 
glueing,  and  then  reduced  the  joints  down  on 
the  outside  to  the  usual  tapering  shape.  Give 
me,  however,  the  workman  who  glues  and 
splices  with  the  bark  outside,  and  then  gives  his 
rod  a  true  and  correct  action,  allowing  the 
three  different  barks  to  be  seen  visibly  on  the 
outside  after  he  has  rounded  the  whole.  If 
the  pieces  are  skilfully  glued  together  they  will 
require  no  reduction  except  at  the  corners,  to 
bring  the  rod  from  the  three  square  to  the 
round  shape.  I  am  prepared  to  prove  that 
there  are  no  more  than  three  men  in  London 
capable  of  making,  perfectly,  rods  of  solid 
cane,  rent,  glued,  and  then  correctly  finished 
with  the  bark  lying  on  the  outside. 

**  In  my  opinion  rods  made  entirely  of  lance- 
wood,"  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  says,  *' are  the  worst; 
and  those  made  entirely  of  rent  and  glued 
jungle  cane  are  the  best.  They  must  be  most 
carefully  fashioned,  and  no  maker  can  turn 
them  out  without  charging  a  high  price.  I  am 
also  of  the  opinion  that  they  will  last  longer 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROB    145 

than  any  other  sort  of  rod,  and  are  far  less 
liable  to  warping.  I  have  a  high  opinion  of 
their  elasticity,  and  Mr.  Bowness,  fishing  tackle 
maker  of  12  Bellyard,  Temple  Bar,  showed 
me  once  a  trout  fly  rod  made  in  this,  my  fa- 
vorite way,  that  had  been  for  many  years  in 
use  and  was  still  straight  as  a  wand.  I  never 
saw  a  better  single-handed  rod." 

Fitzgibbon  underwent  a  change  of  heart 
within  a  year,  however,  for  in  the  1848  edition 
of  his  book  he  says: 

"  I  have  changed  my  opinion  with  respect  to 
rods  made  entirely  of  rent  cane,  or  any  other 
wood  rent.  Their  defects  will  always  more 
than  counterbalance  their  merits." 

William  Blacker  said,  in  his  *'  Fly  Making 
and  Angling,"  London,  1855,  page  82: 

"  The  rent  and  glued-up  bamboo  cane  rods, 
which  I  turn  out  to  the  greatest  perfection,  are 
very  valuable,  as  they  are  very  light  and  power- 
ful, and  throw  the  line  with  great  facility." 

In  the  edition  of  Walton's  "  Compleat  An- 
gler," edited  by  Edward  Jesse  and  published 
in  London  in  1856  by  Henry  G.  Boehn,  the 
following  paragraph  appears: 

"  The  split  or  glued-up  rod  is  difficult  to 
make  well,  and  expensive.    It  is  made  of  three 


146    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

pieces  of  split  cane,  which  some  say  should 
have  the  bark  inside,  some  outside,  nicely- 
rounded." 

In  "  The  Practical  Angler,"  third  edition, 
Edinburgh,   1857,  W.  C,  Stewart  says: 

**  The  strength  of  bamboo  lies  in  the  skin, 
and  in  order  to  turn  this  to  best  account,  rod- 
makers  lay  two  or  three  strips  together  so  as 
to  form  a  complete  skin  all  around.  Rods  are 
sometimes  made  entirely  of  bamboo,  but  they 
possess  no  advantage  over  those  in  common 
use  to  compensate  for  the  additional  expense, 
a  twelve-foot  rod  of  this  material  costing  £3 
to  £4." 

Le  Pecheur,  the  French  angling  journal, 
says : 

"  Thomas  Aldred  of  London  claimed,  and 
no  one  has  disputed  his  claim,  to  have  the 
honor  of  inventing  the  split  cane  rod  in  three 
sections  or  segments  glued  together.  As  re- 
gards the  date  when  the  first  rod  was  made 
we  are  ignorant.*     It  must  have  been  before 

*  Commenting  on  this  statement,  Editor  Marston  of  the 
Fishing  Gazette  says  of  split  cane  rods :  "  They  were 
made  and  exhibited  at  the  first  great  International  Fish- 
eries Exhibition — that  of  1851.  They  were  exhibited  by 
Aldred  of  Oxford  Street,  and  thirty  years  ago  and  more 
I  used  to  know  a  very  clever  little  old  rodmaker,  Irvine 
by  name,  who  lived  in  a  court  off  the  Pentonville  road 
near  the  Angel,  Islington,  .  .  .  who  told  us  that  he 
had  made  the  salmon  and  trout  split  cane  fly-rods  for 
Aldred  for  the  1851  Exhibition  and  long  before.  .  .  . 
Irvine  was  proud  of  saying  that  he  had  made  the  split 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  ROD    147 

the  1855  Exhibition.  There  were  three  fish- 
ing tackle  exhibitors  at  the  Exhibition,  namely, 
Ainger  and  Aldred,  J.  Bernard,  and  J.  K. 
Farlow.  The  canes  were  all  split  in  three 
sections  longitudinally,  the  whole  length  of  the 
joint,  and  not  made  up  of  different  pieces  in 
length  equal  to  the  distance  between  the  knots. 
This  same  rod  was  exhibited  by  Ainger  and 
Aldred  in  New  York  in  1853." 

While  Le  Pecheur's  article  is  interesting,  the 
paragraph  quoted  did  not  originate  with  it,  but 
was  taken  bodily  from  an  article  printed  in  the 
American  Angler  in  1883. 

W.  D.  Coggeshall  of  the  London  Fly  Fish- 
ers' Club  has  found  this  paragraph  in  "  The 
Young  Angler's  Companion,"  published  by 
James  March  of  London,  without  date,  but 
which,  judging  from  the  costumes  of  anglers 
in  the  colored  prints,  Mr.  Coggeshall  concludes 
was  issued  about  18 10  to  1820: 

"  The  Fly  rod  is  generally  made  of  Hic- 
eory,  with  a  top  of  several  pieces  joined  to- 

cane  salmon  rod  on  which  the  Lord  Lovat  of  the  middle 
of  last  century  had,  so  he  told  him,  killed  tons  of  salmon, 
when  he  had  sent  it  or  taken  it  to  him  to  repair — very 
likely  at  that  time,  when  he  was  a  young  man,  he  worked 
in  Aldred's  shop  These  first  English  split  cane  rods  cer- 
tainly date  back  to  the  forties  of  last  century.  They 
were  made  of  three  pieces,  glued  together  sometimes  with 
the  inside  outside  and  sometimes  with  the  outside  inside, 
and  were  made  more  or  less  cylindrical,  showing  no 
external  angles  as  in  the  hexagonal  rod,  which  latter  was 
undoubtedly  the  improvement  of  the  Americans." 


148    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

gether,  cut  out  of  the  solid  part  of  the  large 
bamboo;  the  butt  is  sometimes  made  of  Ash." 

I  quote  Mr.  Marston  again: 

**  In  Blaine's  *  Encyclopedia  of  Rural  Sports,' 
first  edition,  1840,  in  his  description  of  the 
manufacture  of  fly  rods  Blaine  specially  men- 
tions split  bamboo.  In  1836  Ronalds,  in  the 
first  edition  of  his  incomparable  '  Fly  Fisher's 
Entomology,'  refers  to  bamboo  top  joint  for 
the  fly  rod,  and  I  am  pretty  certain  he  means 
split  bamboo,  for  in  an  edition  twenty  years 
later  he  has  the  same  expression,  and  it  is 
pretty  certain  he  did  not  mean  the  actual 
^  whole  cane  '  natural  end  of  a  bamboo.  .  .  . 
The  fact  is,  bows  for  archers  were  made  of 
several  pieces  glued  together  long  before  rods 
were  so  made,  and  it  was  the  custom  of  fishing 
tackle  makers  to  get  the  bow  and  arrow  makers 
to  help  them  in  their  rodmaking.  Chetham  of 
Smedley,  near  Manchester,  in  his  capital  little 
*  Angler's  Vade  Mecum,'  published  in  1681, 
two  years  before  Walton  died,  describes  how 
you  are  to  get  the  arrow  maker  to  saw  up  and 
plane  up  wood  for  rod  making." 

In  a  letter  to  me  Dr.  Edward  Breck,  author 
of  ''The  Way  of  the  Woods,"  throws  an 
interesting  sidelight  on  split  bamboo  rods 
when  he  says: 


THE  SPLIT  BAMBOO  BOD    149 

"  While  in  England  I  met  several  old  an- 
glers, some  of  them  in  the  fishing  clubs,  who 
all  asserted  that  split  cane  rods  had  been  made 
in  England  years  ago,  but  had  not  taken  very 
well  and  been  dropped.  Afterward  I  found 
evidence  that  seemed  to  confirm  this.  Hen- 
shall  says  '  English  origin  '  in  his  *  Book  of  the 
Black  Bass.'  In  England  I  was  told  that,  as 
the  old  chaps  remembered  the  matter,  only  the 
middle  joint,  and  sometimes  the  top,  were 
glued  from  strips,  the  butt  being  ash  or  green- 
heart,  but  the  principle  is  what  counts,  of 
course.  The  sections  were  three  or  four  only, 
so  the  old  boys  said.  Of  course  such  faraway 
evidence  is  merely  significant. 

"  In  some  of  the  older,  small  shops  in  Lon- 
don I  saw  some  split  cane  rods  that  certainly 
looked  as  old  as  the  proprietors  said  they 
were — sixty  or  seventy  years — ^but  this  again 
IS  not  strictly  evidence.  ...  At  the  first 
World's  Exposition  in  London  in  1851  three 
firms  exhibited  three-strip  rods,  and  in  1855 
Blacker  was  making  them  commonly,  gener- 
erally  of  three  strips." 

In  a  later  communication  Dr.  Breck  wrote: 
^*  Re  Mr.  CoggeshalPs  claim,  that  the  Eng- 
lish were  not  using  split  and  glued  bamboo, 
all  one  has  to  do  is  to  quote  from  Fitzgibbon's 


150    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

1847  book:  'They  are  to  be  made  from  the 
,  .  .  bamboo  cane  called  '' jungle,"  and 
brought  from  India.  .  .  .  Each  piece  should 
consist  of  three  rent  pieces.  .  .  .  The  butt 
of  a  salmon  rod  [as  distinct  from  trout  rod] 
should  be  made  from  plank  ash.  .  .  .  Give 
me  the  workman  who  glues  the  splices  with  the 
bark  outside.' 

'*  Now,  as  to  the  four-  and  six-strip  rods,  I 
can  only  say  that  I  never  heard  anybody  in 
England  mention,  nor  read  about  six-strip  rods 
in  the  early  days.  Of  four  I  think  I  have,  but 
will  not  be  sure.  The  above  extract  proves 
that  middle  sections,  and  probably  the  butts  of 
trout  rods,  too,  were  made  of  split  and  glued 
bamboo,  not  the  tops  alone,  as  Mr.  Cogges- 
hall  claims." 


CHAPTER   XIV 

SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  FOR  THE  BEGINNER 

FEW  amateurs  attempt  to  make  split 
bamboo  rods  because  they  believe  the 
work  is  too  complicated.  It  is  at  once 
a  difficult  and  yet  a  very  simple  proposition, 
as  will  appear  later  on.  Good  material  prop- 
erly worked  up  will  give  you  a  first-class  rod. 
Patience  and  perseverance  are  necessary,  for 
the  preparatory  work  requires  great  care,  and 
the  least  slip  of  plane  or  file  may  ruin  an  other- 
wise perfect  strip. 

You  cannot  copy  a  wood  rod  in  bamboo,  for 
aside  from  the  fact  that  they  are  essentially 
different  in  every  way,  you  can  always  measure 
the  exact  diameter  of  your  wood  rods,  but 
must  measure  the  *'  flat "  surfaces  of  the  hex- 
agonal bamboo,  and  these  do  not  give  true  cali- 
bers. Neither  can  you  hope  to  determine  its 
calibers  in  the  professional  way.  Long  experi- 
ence tells  them  where  a  rod  needs  strength, 
and  where  it  should  be  tapered  rapidly.  Even 
in  examining  one  of  their  rods  you  will  not 
notice  the  slight  variations  at  certain  places, 
151 


152    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

which  seem  trivial  to  you,  but  are  the  result 
of  burning  much  midnight  oil  and  trying,  alter- 
ing, testing  to  attain  perfection. 

In  making  each  of  the  strips  you  halve  the 
actual  caliber,  but  only  approximately.  Finally, 
you  must  work  very  slowly.  If  you  finish  six 
perfect  strips  of  whatever  length  in  a  day  you 
will  work  faster  than  you  should.  Remember 
that  you  cannot  use  your  split  bamboo  rod  as 
soon  as  finished,  as  you  can  a  wood  rod. 
Therefore,    go   slow. 

These  remarks  are  not  intended  to  discour- 
age you,  but  rather  to  make  you  cautious.  The 
first  time  I  actually  finished  six  strips  of  bam- 
boo and  began  to  glue  them,  my  hands  trem- 
bled so  that  the  work  was  very  poorly  done; 
for  I  had  been  told  that  I  could  not  do  it,  and 
I  half  expected  them  to  fly  apart  despite  the 
excess  of  glue  on  the  strips,  on  my  hands  and 
on  the  floor.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  you  will 
be  delighted — ^just  as  I  was — and  the  result 
will  be  much  more  satisfactory  than  you  antici- 
pate. 

If  you  decide  to  use  Calcutta,  select  several 
canes  ij4  inches  or  more  in  diameter  at  the 
large  end,  having  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
burns  must  not  penetrate  the  enamel.  Pound 
each  piece  smartly  on  the  floor  and  examine 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  153 

closely  for  worm  holes,  and  the  dust  from 
them.  Cut  the  pieces  at  least  a  foot  longer 
than  the  finished  joint  is  to  be.  Split  them 
through  the  eyes  where  the  leaves  grew,  for 
this  part  is  worthless.  An  old  table  knife  will 
serve  the  purpose.  This  will  leave  about  two- 
thirds  of  each  cane  from  which  to  make  selec- 
tions. Split  up  enough  to  give  you  six  good 
pieces,  and  plane  two  sides  of  each  strip,  leav- 
ing it  nearly  square  in  section.  Keep  in  mind 
the  fact  that  the  rind  or  enamel  is  not  to  be 
touched  with  any  tool.  In  squaring  up  the 
strips  approximate  the  taper  of  each  one,  but 
otherwise  do  not  disturb  the  pith  side. 

Examine  each  strip  carefully  for  worm 
holes,  and  if  there  is  the  slightest  indication 
of  these  in  it,  break  it  up  and  thus  avoid  any 
possibility  of  its  being  used.  Worm-eaten  bam- 
boo is  the  bane  of  the  rodmaker. 

File  the  knots  slightly  and  lay  the  strips  side 
by  side,  rind  up.  Now  note  the  burns  again, 
and  if  any  of  them  char  the  enamel,  reject  that 
strip  and  try  another  one.  Next  try  the  strips 
which  contain  the  leaf  eyes,  bending  them  in 
every  direction  and  noting  the  arch  as  well  as 
their  inclination  to  set.  If  they  will  not  spring 
back  straight,  particularly  when  the  rind  is  on 
the  convex  side  of  the  curve,  they  may  not  be 


154    AMATEUR   BODMAKING 

properly  seasoned.  If  faults  appear  in  these 
rejected  strips,  examine  their  mates,  which  you 
propose  to  use,  but  do  not  subject  them  to 
severe  strains.  The  weeding  out  of  poor  ma- 
terial, if  it  is  done  at  this  stage,  may  save 
time  and  labor  later  on.  See  that  the  bamboo 
has  no  greenish  hue,  indicating  that  it  is  not 
seasoned.  It  should  be  yellow  and  split  far 
ahead  of  the  knife  blade. 

If  six  strips  pass  inspection,  place  them  so 
that  no  two  knots  will  be  opposite  or  even 
near  each  other,  saw  off  ends  and  mark  all  of 
the  strips,  so  that  they  cannot  be  reversed  by 
accident.  Dipping  the  butt  ends  in  red  Ink  is 
a  good  plan.  Number  them  from  i  to  6  on 
the  rind  side.  They  should  be  some  three 
inches  longer  than  the  finished  joint  is  to  be., 
so  that  you  will  have  leeway  in  trimming  the 
ends. 

Sharpen  your  plane  on  an  oilstone  until  its 
edge  is  very  keen.  Bamboo  requires  the  ut- 
most care  in  planing,  and  a  dull  tool  must  not 
be  used  on  it.  Set  the  plane  very  fine  and 
test  it  on  a  rejected  strip  of  cane.  It  is  well, 
too,  to  put  an  old  glove  on  your  left  hand 
while  you  hold  the  cane  in  place  in  planing 
and  filing  it.  A  slip  may  result  disastrously, 
for  the  rough  edge  of  a  triangular  strip  of 
cane  will  make  a  jagged  wound. 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  155 


If  your  material  Is  Tonkin  cane,  practically 
the  same  rules  laid  down  for  Calcutta  may  be 
applied  to  it,  though  Tonkin  generally  seems  to 
be  free  from  worm  holes. 

You  will  know  how  to  bevel  two  sides  of  each 
one  of  your  strips,  to  make  its  section  tri- 
angular, with  the  apex  exactly  opposite  the 
center  of  the  enamel  base,  and  the  angle  formed 
by  the  two  sides  to  be  60  degrees,  as  illustrated 
in  Fig.  50,  p.  162. 

There  are  '*  forty-'leven "  ways  to  do  the 
rough  beveling,  and  as  many  more  methods 
employed  in  finishing  the  strips.  You  can  be- 
gin to  bevel  the  strips  in  the  grooved  edge  of  a 
tongued-and-grooved  board.  Another  way  is 
to  nail  a  strip  of  wood  near  the  edge  of  your 
work  bench,  forming  a  right-angled  rabbet. 
Some  rodmakers  use  a  hardwood  block  with 
rabbets  cut  in  two  corners.  Still  another  plan 
is  to  prepare  two  blocks  like  those  illustrated 


^ 
; 

t 

i 

Figure    47. 
Blocks    for   Beveling   Rod    Sections. 

in  Fig.  47,  with  the  angle  of  the  groove  60 
degrees. 


156    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

I  like  the  grooved  board  referred  to  in  the 
chapter  on  ''  One-Piece  Bait-Casting  Rods." 
You  can  procure  a  piece  about  four  feet  long 
and  keep  it  handy.  It  is  serviceable  for  round- 
ing wood  rods,  for  squaring  bamboo  strips, 
which  lie  well  in  the  groove;  and  for  the  pre- 
liminary beveling  of  these  strips.  This  piece 
of  board,  and  the  hardwood  block  illustrated 


Figure  48. 
Grooved  Board  for  Cutting  Bevels. 

in  Fig.  48,  will  answer  all  your  requirements 
in  split  cane  work. 

Some  amateurs,  however,  like  to  use  blocks 
similar  to  those  illustrated  in  Fig.  47.  To 
make  these,  procure  two  pieces  of  seasoned 
hardwood.  Cherry,  birch  or  maple  will  be 
better  than  oak;  beech  will  answer.  Make  the 
blocks  4   feet  long,   2   inches  wide,   and    1J/2 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  157 

inches  thick.  Plane  off  the  corners  as  indicated 
by  the  dotted  lines  in  Fig.  47.  Plane  very 
carefully,  a  little  at  a  time,  then  fasten  the 
two  blocks  temporarily  in  the  vise  while  you 
test  the   groove  with  the  handy  little  gauge 


Fig.   49. — Steel   Angle   Gauge. 

illustrated  in  Fig.  49.  This  is  a  center  gauge 
costing  25  cents  at  hardware  shops,  and  it  not 
only  has  three  60-degree  notches,  but  scales 
graduated  in  I4ths,  20ths,  24ths,  and  32ds  of 
an  inch.  As  it  is  tempered  steel,  you  can  true 
up  the  groove  with  it  and  with  a  three-cornered 
file  from  which  the  handle  has  been  removed. 
Both  the  gauge  and  the  file  have  angles  of  60 
degrees.  The  depth  of  the  groove  does  not  so 
much  matter  as  its  shape,  for  on  this  depends 
the  character  of  your  finished  strips. 

When  satisfied  that  one  of  the  grooves  is 
correct,  fasten  the  two  blocks  together  with  at 
least  four  screws,  reverse  and  true  up  the  other 
groove. 

We  will  assume,  for  the  sake  of  brevity  and 


158    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

simplicity,  that  your  first  groove  is  to  be  for 
the  rough  beveling  of  the  strips  of  the  butt 
joint  of  a  two-piece  rod,  whose  diameter  at 
the  large  end  Is  to  be  15-32  of  an  inch,  and 
at  the  small  end  9-32.  We  will  also  assume 
that  the  depth  of  the  groove  Is  uniformly  J4 
inch  from  end  to  end.  Secure  the  block  against 
shifting  and  plane  Its  face  until  the  depth  of 
the  groove  at  one  end  is  15-64  and  at  the 
other  9-64  inch.  To  be  certain  there  are  no 
uneven  places,  test  with  a  straight  edge,  both 
lengthwise  and  across  the  block,  then  mark  its 
entire  face  with  a  pencil. 

The  depth  of  the  second  groove  will  range 
from  9-64  to  3-64,  assuming  that  the  tip  end 
of  your  rod  is  to  be  3-32  inch  when  finished. 

Now  place  a  squared  strip  of  cane  In  the 
large  groove  of  your  block,  with  the  rind  at 
one  side,  and  take  off  a  very  fine  shaving  with 
your  plane.  Turn  the  strip  and  plane  the 
other  side,  being  careful  to  go  over  the  knots 
with  a  shearing  motion,  else  the  plane  will 
**  bite  "  into  the  knots.  See  that  you  do  not 
cut  Into  the  face  of  the  block,  which  you 
marked  with  pencil  for  this  purpose. 

By  this  time  your  strip  will  be  roughly  tri- 
angular, but  the  edges  should  not  be  sharp. 
Take   up    another   strip   and   bevel    it   in   the 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  159 

same  fashion  and  so  on  until  the  six  strips 
are  ready  for  the  finer  work. 

Turn  the  block  over  and  bevel  the  strips 
for  the  tips  in  the  shallow  groove,  then  lay  the 
block  a.side.  Some  amateurs  finish  their  strips 
in  grooves  of  this  sort,  but  it  is  so  diflicult  to 
make  a  perfect  groove  of  this  length,  and  to 
prevent  the  strip  from  rolling,  that  the  follow- 
ing method  Is  the  better  one  for  begin- 
ners: 

For  this  purpose  procure  a  block  of  hard 
maple,  birch  or  beech,  two  Inches  thick,  2}^ 
inches  wide  and  6  inches  long.  Make  it  fast 
In  the  vise  and  with  a  pencil  draw  four  par- 
allel lines  from  end  to  end.  With  a  saw  cut 
shallow  grooves  on  these  marks.  Take  up 
your  three-cornered  file  and  cut  the  first  groove. 
Its  bottom  will  be  slightly  round,  as  the  edge 
of  the  file  is  rather  blunt,  but  you  can  true 
up  the  groove  with  the  point  of  ^your  steel 
gauge  (Fig.  49).  Cut  the  first  groove  15-64, 
the  second  13-64,  the  third  11-64,  ^^d  the 
fourth  9-64  inch  deep.  In  ,this  work  the  ut- 
most care  must  be  exercised  to  keep  the  top 
side  of  the  file  level  with  the  surface  of  the 
block,  to  keep  the  angles  of  the  groove  per- 
fect. 

Turn  the  block  over,  draw  four  or  five  lines 


160    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

as  before,  groove  them  with  the  saw,  and  file 
the  grooves.  (See  Fig.  48.)  Make  the  first 
one  }i  inch  deep,  the  second  7-64,  the  third 
3-32,  the  fourth  5-64,  and  the  last  one  1-16. 
inch  deep.  These  are  for  your  tips,  which  re- 
quire the  greatest  care;  therefore  the  grooves 
may  be  safely  made  uniform  in  depth  and  you 
can  shift  steadily  to  a  smaller  groove  as  you 
file  from  the  large  to  the  small  end.  Cover 
both  faces  of  the  block  with  pencil  marks,  to 
assist  you  in  keeping  the  file  out  of  contact 
with  the  block. 

Fastening  this  block  in  the  vise  with  the 
larger  set  of  grooves  up,  begin  with  one  of 
the  strips  for  the  butt  of  your  rod.  Lay  it  in 
the  largest  groove  with  the  enamel  at  one  side, 
and  commencing  at  the  butt  end  work  your  flat 
file  forward  and  back,  being  careful  to  hold  it 
parallel  with  the  fack  of  the  block.  Turn  the 
strip  often,  in  order  that  you  may  be  sure  to 
keep  the  angles  true,  and  go  from  groove  to 
groove  until  the  strip  is  reduced  evenly 
throughout  its  length,  beginning  again  in  the 
largest  groove  and  continuing  as  before,  until 
the  strip  will  lie  in  the  groove  flush  with  the 
surface  of  the  block,  no  matter  which  side  is 
uppermost.  Do  not  attempt  to  file  across  the 
grain  of  your  strip,  as  it  will  sliver  if  you  do. 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  161 

The  plane  cannot  with  safety  be  used  in  finish- 
ing strips  in  the  short  block.  The  proper  tool 
for  this  is  the  flat  file. 

Test  all  angles  of  the  strip  frequently  with 
the  little  steel  gauge,  going  from  end  to  end, 
filing,  testing,  sighting  along  the  strip,  blow- 
ing the  dust  out  of  each  groove  before  laying 
the  strip  in  it. 

Proceed  in  like  fashion  with  the  other  strips, 
each  one  of  which  must  be  an  equilateral  tri- 
angle in  section;  that  Is,  excepting  the  con- 
vexity of  the  rind  side.  In  other  words,  the 
apex  of  the  triangle  must  be  exactly  opposite 
the  center  of  the  enamel  base,  as  In  Fig.  50, 
and  the  angle  formed  by  the  two  pith  sides 
60  degrees.  Each  of  the  edges  must  be  sharp, 
and  in  order  to  make  them  so,  be  careful  that 
you  do  not  raise  a  sliver  at  the  enamel  edges, 
and  In  removing  It  destroy  the  perfection  of 
the  glue  joint. 

Turning  the  grooved  block  over,  take  up 
your  strips  for  the  tips.  Even  greater  care 
Is  necessary  with  them,  for  they  run  so  small 
at  the  tip  end  that  the  least  error  will  ruin 
one.  Use  the  gauge  frequently.  Do  not  be 
satisfied  with  a  fair  strip;  make  It  perfect. 
Keep  In  mind  the  fact  that  you  cannot  use  the 
rod  for  several  months,   anyway,   and  that  a 


162    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


day  more  or  less  in  finishing  strips  will  not 
matter. 

I  have  said  split  cane  rodmaking  is  both  dif- 
ficult and  simple.  If  you  will  be  careful  and 
patient,    the    difliculties    will    be    overcome. 


KWvi4^lh-i?ig>gSI 


!^^i'j^^/?^:^l 


Figure  50.  Figure  51.  Figure  52. 

Single  Strip  Section,  Double  Strip  Unfinished,  r.nd  Double 
Strip  Finished  Section. 

Could  anything  be  more  simple  than  this  little 
block  of  hardwood,  which  you  can  carry  in 
your  pocket,  and  which  is  easily  made,  yet  is 
in  fact  a  mold  for  all  the  strips  of  your  rod? 
Despite  all  the  advances  In  toolmaking  and  in 
labor-saving  devices,  some  of  the  most  expert 
rodmakers  use  this  little  hand-made  block  of 
wood. 

By  the  time  you  have  finished  the  six  strips 
for  the  tip  of  your  rod,  you  will  have  acquired 
great  respect  for  the  six-Inch  block.  In  a  block 
the  full  length  of  a  strip  the  tendency  of  the 
latter  to  roll  Is  very  aggravating,  but  in  the 
short  block  this  is  greatly  reduced,  although 
not  entirely  overcome,  it  being  difficult  to  hold 
even  this  short  length  against  rolling  when  the 
enamel  side  is  convex. 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  163 

It  must  be  understood  that  one  set  of 
grooves  will  serve  for  a  long  one-piece  rod, 
for  one  part  of  a  two-piece  rod,  or  for  one 
part  of  a  three-piece  rod,  provided  their  num- 
ber and  depth  are  properly  regulated.  The 
angle  for  all  is  the  same,  and  the  notches  in 
your  steel  angle  gauge  will  be  correct  for  test- 
ing all  strips. 

There  are  many  other  methods  employed 
in  beveling  and  tapering  strips,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, but  the  simplest  one  is  given  here,  for 
if  the  beginner  is  confronted  with  a  compli- 
cated system  involving  planes  fitted  with  bevel 
blocks,  adjustable  **shooting  boards,"  taper 
gauges  and  protractors,  he  cannot  be  blamed 
for  shying  from  this  interesting  branch  of  rod- 
making. 

When  your  strips  are  finished,  their  glassy 
surfaces  may  seem  to  be  poor  holding  ground 
for  glue,  and  you  may  be  tempted  to  roughen 
them.  This  is  a  mistake.  To  satisfy  your- 
self, wet  one  of  the  surfaces  slightly,  and  after 
it  has  dried  pass  your  finger  over  it.  You  will 
find  the  grain  raised  enough  to  prove  that  this 
will  be  taken  care  of  by  the  hot  glue. 

Fit  a  set  of  six  strips  together  and  wind 
them  spirally  with  thread,  so  that  they  will 
all  be  in  perfect  contact.     Examine  all  parts 


164    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

carefully  and  see  that  the  pith  sides  come  to- 
gether throughout,  and  that  no  strip  sinks 
below  its  proper  plane,  as  it  will  do  If  Its 
taper  Is  not  the  same  as  that  of  the  other 
strips.  In  this  case  a  new  strip  must  be  made 
to  replace  it.  Cheap  rods  are  often  corrected 
for  this  fault  by  winding  a  narrow  piece  of 
paper  spirally  around  the  Imperfect  place  in 
the  strip,  then  removing  the  paper  from  the 
surface  after  gluing,  but  this  is  not  to  be  rec- 
ommended, as  you  would  regret  it  later  on, 
perhaps  by  the  seam  opening.  Gauge  care- 
fully the  taper  of  the  assembled  strips  and 
mark   all   places   that   need   further  reducing. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  I  said  that  double 
enamel  rods  are  excellent  If  carefully  made. 
In  working  thin-walled  cane  this  system  has 
some  points  of  excellence,  and  the  amateur 
who  is  skilled  with  the  plane  and  the  file  can 
work  it  nicely,  especially  for  butts  and  middle 
joints. 

Square  up  the  rough  stock  and  match  two 
strips  with  reference  to  the  knots.  Decide 
which  Is  to  be  the  surface  strip  and  plane  it 
to  rectangular  section,  with  the  rind  on  the 
bottom.  Do  not  touch  the  rind.  Now  plane 
the  second  or  Inner  strip  to  match,  but  file  off 
just  enough  of  the  rind  In  the  center  to  make 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  165 

a  glue  joint,  it  being  remembered  that  the 
convex  rind  of  the  inner  strip  cannot  other- 
wise be  glued  to  the  pith  side  of  the  outer 
strip.  Glue  the  strips  together,  wind  with 
cord,  place  under  a  weight  or  clamp  together 
until  dry.  In  section  your  double  enamel  strip 
will  be  like  Fig.  51,  while  Fig.  52  shows  the 
sectional  view  of  a  finished  strip.  It  is  best 
to  make  the  outer  strip  thinner  than  the  inner 
one,  as  in  this  way  the  maximum  of  rind  is 
obtained. 

It  must  be  understood  that  in  filing  the  rind 
of  the  inner  strip,  only  a  very  small  portion  of 
Its  center  is  to  be  removed.  This  will  affect 
the  strip  very  little  when  the  two  are  glued 
together. 

It  Is  not  advisable  for  the  beginner  to  try 
this  method  on  tips  until  he  has  mastered  the 
less  complicated  hexagonal  work,  if  at  all. 

When  your  assembled  strips  are  ready  for 
gluing,  warm  them  while  heating  the  glue,  and 
for  each  set  of  strips  have  ready  a  piece  of 
strong  thread.  You  can  glue  the  strips  with 
another  person's  assistance.  To  do  this,  glue 
a  few  inches  at  a  time,  your  assistant  keeping 
them  separated  for  the  purpose.  Wind  them 
spirally,  glue  a  few  more  inches,  wind  again, 
and  so   on  until  finished,   then  wind  back  to 


166    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

the  place  of  beginning.  Whatever  the  method, 
pass  the  strips  over  a  flame  before  pressing 
them  into  contact,  in  order  to  be  sure  the  glue 
is  hot,  and  after  the  strips  have  been  wound 
in  one  direction  they  can  be  again  passed  over 
a  flame,  then  the  reverse  winding  completed. 
Use  the  best  French  glue,  applying  it  with  a 
flat  brush  while  very  hot.  Before  using  fresh 
glue  soak  it  over  night  in  cold  water.  It 
should  be  quite  thin. 

Now  sight  along  each  strip  alternately  and 
correct  the  natural  tendency  to  twist  spirally. 
Rolling  in  the  hands  while  gluing  will  partially 
correct  this.  Fasten  the  glued  stock  on  a 
board  or  a  rod  by  winding  loosely  around  both, 
to  prevent  warping. 

Glued  joints  should  be  left  in  a  warm  room 
until  thoroughly  dry.  A  month  is  not  too 
long,  and  some  of  the  best  rodmakers  dislike 
to  let  rods  go  out  of  their  shops  if  the  stock 
has  had  less  than  four  months  to  dry  and 
harden.  As  a  rule  they  glue  their  stock  in 
the  autumn  and  make  up  rods  from  it  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  these  rods  being  kept  out  of 
the  anglers'  hands  for  six  months  at  least. 
Tournament  rods  should  season  even  longer, 
for  they  are  put  to  the  severest  tests. 

Some  of  the  most  practical  suggestions  that 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  167 

have  been  made  to  me  are  those  for  which  I 
am  indebted  to  P.  S.  Redfield  of  Providence, 
R.  L,  a  veteran  angler.  I  take  pleasure  in 
recommending  all  that  he  says: 

**  If  you  will  pardon  me,  I  would  like  to 
make  a  simple  suggestion  as  regards  gluing 
split  bamboo  for  rods.  As  you  know,  all  labor 
is  lost  and  bitter  disappointment  follows  if  the 
gluing  prove  defective.  After  various  failures 
in  gluing  bamboo  strips  together,  it  occurred 
to  me  to  devise  some  simple  but  sure  method 
of  gluing,  and  the  following  glue-pot  was  in- 
vented: Get  a  piece  of  common  speaking  tube, 
such  as  were  formerly  used  in  houses  to  call 
the  kitchen  girl  to  the  chambers  or  dining 
room.  One  inch  in  diameter  is  sufficient  and 
2j^  feet  long.  On  one  end  solder  a  piece  of 
brass  or  copper  three  inches  square,  for  a; 
base,  and  it  is  ready  for  the  thin,  hot  glue 
that  has  been  freshly  prepared  in  a  sauce-pan 
set  in  another  dish  of  boiling  water.  The  glue 
should  thus  be  well  cooked — say  an  hour — 
stirring  frequently  with  a  thin  wood  paddle. 

"  Enough  glue  should  be  thus  prepared  to 
about  fill  the  tube.  Now  set  the  thing  in  a  tea- 
kettle of  boiling  water  and  the  glue  will  keep 
hot — a  very  important  thing  for  success — till 
you  glue  all  your  pieces.    When  through  using. 


168    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

and  while  the  glue  is  hot,  empty  the  tube  and 
rinse  well  in  hot  water  till  perfectly  clean  of 
glue,  dry,  and  hang  bottom  up  for  further  use. 

"  Too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  to  prevent 
rusting  this  tube — as  rust  and  dirt  will  spoil 
glue — and  so  much  depends  on  the  gluing. 

**  I  need  not  tell  how  to  use  this  glue-pot,  as 
you  have  already  given  directions  to  have  the 
pieces  for  each  joint  wound  spirally  with 
coarse  thread.  It  will  be  well  to  unwind  a 
few  inches  at  a  time,  commencing  at  the  small 
end.  As  the  piece  is  unwound,  and  pushed 
down  in  the  glue,  it  will  act  like  an  egg-beater, 
and  consequently  glue  all  surfaces.  When  half 
of  a  piece  has  been  thus  unwound  and  whipped 
in  the  glue,  wind  the  thread  back,  pressing  the 
strips  together  and  the  glue  out;  then  unwind 
the  other  end  to  a  little  beyond  where  the  glue 
reached  before,  thus  surely  gluing  every  part; 
then  rewind  and  have  a  rag  handy  in  a  dish 
of  hot  water  to  gently  wipe  most  of  the  glue 
from  the  outside  of  the  joint.  Do  not  wipe 
too  clean,  for  if  a  little  glue  is  left  on  the 
thread,  all  the  better,  and  no  trouble  will  be 
found  in  taking  off  the  winding." 

I  have  found  that  a  piece  of  one-inch  gal- 
vanized iron  pipe  makes  an  excellent  glue-tank. 
The  plumber  will  supply  it.     Have  him  put  a 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  169 

screw-cap  on  the  bottom  end.  Being  thicker 
than  tin,  It  retains  the  heat  longer. 

Remember  that  no  matter  how  perfect  your 
glue  joints  are,  If  your  gluing  Is  badly  done, 
your  work  will  be  wasted.  It  Is  folly  to  at- 
tempt to  glue  strips  In  pairs,  then  glue  and 
assemble  the  three  pairs.  As  your  object  Is  to 
get  all  the  glue  possible  Into  your  joint,  then 
get  all  of  this  out  that  can  be  excluded  by 
winding  tightly  with  cord,  the  best  way  Is  to 
glue  and  wind,  glue  and  wind,  until  you  finish 
the  joint,  always  heating  the  applied  glue  be- 
fore winding.  Thick  glue  simply  cannot  be 
used.  I  found  this  the  most  difficult  part  of 
split  cane  rodmaking — at  first — but  I  prac- 
ticed on  short  pieces  until  I  mastered  the  work, 
and  In  this  way  learned  how  to  properly  glue 
the  longest  strips.  Tips  are  the  most  difficult 
to  glue,  as  they  are  so  small  that  It  Is  at  first 
hard  to  prevent  twisting  them  In  gluing.  If 
this  occurs,  however,  or  If  the  joint  be  crooked, 
correct  It,  after  the  windings  have  been  re- 
moved, by  heating  and  twisting  or  bending 
until  the  joint  Is  straight. 

When  the  stock  is  dry  the  double  spiral 
windings  are  taken  off  and  the  surplus  glue 
removed,  then  the  bamboo  Is  rubbed  very 
lightly  with  the  finest  sandpaper  and  the  cor- 


170    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

ners  rounded  slightly.  It  Is  then  ready  for 
handgrasp  and  ferrules.  I  prefer  to  rub 
lightly  with  varnish  and  let  this  dry  before 
winding.  Split  or  serrated  ferrules  should  be 
used  on  bamboo  rods  in  preference  to  the  ordi- 
nary capped  ferrules,  and  in  fitting  these  only 
the  corners  of  the  bamboo  should  be  removed. 

To  recapitulate :  In  order  to  lead  from  step 
to  step  without  a  break,  I  have  tried  to  de- 
scribe how  the  butt  and  tips  of  a  two-piece  rod 
may  be  made.  It  naturally  follows  that  a 
three-piece  or  a  one-piece  rod  is  made  in  the 
same  fashion,  the  depth  of  the  grooves  in 
your  little  block  varying  to  accord  with  the 
caliber  of  the  rod-to-be. 

I  would,  however,  advise  you  to  make  sev- 
eral experimental  sections  of  cane  before  at- 
tempting full  length  strips;  in  other  words,  to 
practice  with  short  pieces  until  you  master  first 
principles. 

In  order  to  do  this,  make  your  six-inch  block 
(Fig.  48)  first  of  all.  Take  some  rejected 
strips  a  foot  or  two  in  length  and  bevel  and 
finish  them  with  great  care,  having  in  mind  a 
certain  taper  and  following  this  religiously.  It 
is  surprising  how  quickly  this  will  teach  you  the 
niceties  of  the  system.  The  short  pieces  will 
be  handy  to  fit  and  glue  together,  and  later 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  171 

on  you  can  saw  them  in  two  and  Inspect  their 
ends  to  see  just  how  your  work  turns  out. 
You  can  also  determine  which  glue  seems  best. 
Go  even  further  and  keep  these  sample  pieces, 
to  see  how  much  you  have  improved  in  your 
work  from  time  to  time. 


CHAPTER   XV 

SPLIT     BAMBOO     RODMAKING     FOR     ADVANCED 
WORKERS 

WHY  is  it  that  so  many  anglers  go  in 
for  tournament  casting?  Has  the. 
answer  ever  occurred  to  you  ?  Be- 
cause in  that  pastime  one  learns  so  much  more 
concerning  rods  and  reels  and  lines  than  it  is 
possible  to  acquire  on  the  stream.  On  the 
platform  many  theories  are  tested,  and  mental 
notes  made,  for  use  in  the  little  workshop  at 
home. 

Half  the  fun — ^yes,  more  than  half — is  had 
in  the  cold  season,  when  there  is  neither  fishing 
nor  casting  practice,  in  repairing,  altering,  or 
making  rods  to  be  used  in  the  spring  and 
summer.  Rodmaking  is  a  pastime  in  itself. 
There  is  no  closed  season;  in  fact,  the  rainy 
days,  the  stormy  nights,  the  winter  holidays, 
are  the  times  to  practice  it.  Try  it,  you  who 
think  you  cannot  make  a  rod.  As  for  a  shop, 
any  vacant  room,  or  a  corner  in  a  basement, 
will  serve,  while  as  for  tools,  only  a  few  sim- 
ple and  inexpensive  ones  are  needed. 
17a 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  173 

Make  solid  wood  rods,  if  you  prefer,  for  a 
starter,  to  *'  get  your  hand  in,''  but  do  not 
fail  to  attempt  the  making  of  at  least  one  split 
bamboo  rod. 

This  work  is  really  not  so  difficult  as  it  may 
seem.  Careful,  patient  attention  to  details 
and  sharp  tools  are  the  principal  items  to  be 
looked  after.  And  the  work  is  so  fascinating 
that,  after  you  have  had  a  little  practice,  you 
will  grow  as  enthusiastic  over  it  as  the  fly-  and 
bait-casters  do  over  their  practice  on  the  plat- 
form. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  in  praise  of 
hand-made  cane  rods  and  in  condemnation  of 
machine-made  rods.  In  this  instance,  by 
"  machine-made  rods "  I  do  not  include  the 
cheap  and  nasty  stuff  that  is  turned  out  from 
the  sausage  mills. 

But  let  a  man  who  is  a  past  master  at  hand 
work  operate  a  machine  that  will  do  the  taper- 
ing and  beveling  of  the  selected  strips  better 
than  he  can  ever  do  with  plane  and  file,  and 
it  stands  to  reason  that  the  strips  turned  out 
will  be  perfect.  All  of  the  other  details  being 
cared  for  in  the  most  painstaking  manner,  it 
must  be  conceded  that  he  can  finish  the  strips 
better  by  the  use  of  a  finely  adjusted  machine 
than  it  is  possible  for  him  to  do  with  hand 
tools.     The  shaping  of  the  strips  being  cared 


174    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

for  in  this  way,  it  remains  for  him  to  see  that 
the  material  is  of  the  best,  that  the  roughing 
out  be  well  done,  that  there  be  perfect  match- 
ing, and  that  the  glueing,  straightening,  and 
mounting  be  up  to  standard. 

The  equipment  for  machining  strips  may  be 
very  simple.  Take  a  common  lathe,  and  pro- 
cure two  thin  milling  cutters  which,  when 
fitted  together  on  an  arbor,  will  cut  a  strip  at 
the  proper  angle — 60  degrees.  Make  fast  to 
the  bed-plate  of  the  lathe  a  cross-piece  of  suit- 
able material,  rabbeted  or  grooved  to  take  a 
slide.  This  slide  may  be  hand,  screw,  or  rack- 
and-plnion  operated  in  several  ways,  each  effec- 
tive and  simple.  To  it  the  prepared  strips  of 
cane  may  be  attached,  by  temporary  glueing 
or  otherwise.  Two  things  then  remain :  ( i ) 
To  work  the  slide  carrying  the  cane  strip 
through  the  revolving  cutters;  and  (2)  to 
raise  or  depress  one  end  of  the  slide  as  it 
passes  under  the  cutters,  so  that  the  strip 
may  be  correctly  tapered. 

Any  mechanic  may  with  a  little  practice 
make  perfect  strips  in  this  or  a  similar  fash- 
ion, working  to  thousandths  Instead  of  to  sixty- 
fourths  of  an  Inch.  And,  after  all,  is  It  any 
the  less  a  hand-made  rod  because  he  cut  the 
strips  with  a  heavy  and  accurate  machine  and 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  175 

not  with  a  wobbling  hand  plane  or  file?  If 
you  make  up  a  set  of  joints  for  a  rod,  work- 
ing entirely  with  hand  tools,  would  you  refuse 
to  prepare  the  ends  for  the  ferrules  on  a  fine 
lathe,  on  the  ground  that  that  was  machine 
work,  and  whittle  the  ends  to  fit  instead? 

I  am  merely  stating  a  case.  Think  it  over. 
If  you  possess  the  skill  and  the  equipment,  try 
It.  Otherwise,  let  us  see  what  may  be  done 
with  an  improved  plane.  A  great  deal  of 
very  satisfactory  work,  I  assure  you;  work 
that  is  absorbing,  interesting  to  a  degree,  and 
in  which  you  will  find  recreation  and  freedom 
from  worry  and  care. 

In  Chapter  XIV  I  favored  the  short, 
grooved  block  and  the  filing  of  the  strips. 
My  reasons  for  so  doing  was  to  give  novices 
a  very  simple  method.  I  believed  then,  and 
still  believe,  that  a  full  length  groove  is  better, 
but  it  Is  not  every  beginner  that  is  handy 
enough  with  even  simple  tools  to  work  in  this 
manner.  Making  one  groove  for  the  strips 
for  each  rod  joint  requires  time  and  care  and 
should  be  considered  a  very  important  part 
of  the  work. 

For  this  purpose  I  procured  two  blocks  of 
hard  maple  from  a  mill  man  who  assured  me 
that  the  plank  from  which  he  cut  them  had  been 


176    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

**  kicking  about  the  shop  "  for  years,  and  was, 
therefore,  well  seasoned.  One  was  made  a 
trifle  over  5  feet  long  and  the  other  about  3^ 
feet.  The  faces  of  each  block  are  all  2^ 
inches  wide  and  absolutely  true,  as  they  were 
machine  sawed  and  planed.  This  gives  spaces 
for  four  grooves,  one  on  each  face. 

Taking  the  shorter  block,  with  a  pencil  I 
drew  a  line  the  full  length  of  each  face,  each 
line  in  the  exact  center.  Then  with  a  carpen- 
ter's gauge,  passed  back  and  forth  a  number 
of  times,  a  clean  furrow  was  cut.  Then  I  pro- 
cured a  thin  wood  rabbet  plane  which  had  a 
cutter  half  an  inch  wide.  This  iron  I  ground 
down  on  each  side  on  the  emery  wheel  until  it 
fitted  exactly  in  the  center  gauge  (60  degrees). 
Of  course  the  bottom  of  the  plane  was  planed 
off  to  the  same  angle. 

Great  care  is  at  first  necessary  in  deepening 
the  original  furrow  formed  with  the  marking 
gauge,  for  the  narrow  plane  is  likely  to  follow 
the  inequalities  of  the  grain  of  the  wood  in- 
stead of  sticking  to  its  proper  groove.  But 
after  a  fair  start  has  been  made,  this  difficulty 
is  eliminated. 

We  will  assume  that  the  first  groove  is  to 
be  made  %  inch  in  depth  at  one  end,  and  % 
inch  at  the  other.     Therefore,  mark  >4  at  the 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  177 

deep  end,  and  ys  at  the  shallow  end,  and  with 
a  try-square  and  pencil  mark  entirely  across 
the  block  at  6-inch  intervals,  putting  the  dis- 
tances of  each  from  the  butt  on  one  side  of 
the  groove,  and  the  proper  finished  depth  on 
the  other.  Your  reference  figures  will  in  this 
way  always  be  before  you  as  you  work.  If 
your  block  be  three  feet  long,  it  will  be  spaced 
as  shown  in  Fig.  53. 


1^     \lHlllimimiMimiiiiiiVj^»i»iiu»uuutuu»\umu^uui^uwuuumiM 


l|^UUM^\n\iW^iUi\i\mi^\iJ)i^ti^iimm»iiv^uv,uj^^|!^um»nim»»»^ 


Fig.  53. — Maple  Block  with  Grooves  Cut  on  Three 
Faces.  (The  caliber  marks  are  merely  arbitrary  ones 
to  illustrate  the  idea.) 

Now  for  a  depth  and  taper  gauge.  The 
only  reliable  one  for  this  purpose  that  I  have 
ever  seen  was  shown  me  by  its  inventor,  E. 
R.  Letterman,  of  the  Chicago  Fly-Casting 
Club.  Mr.  Letterman  gave  me  permission  to 
make  one  like  his  and  to  describe  it  for  the 
benefit  of  fellow  ,anglers.  In  making  mine 
(Fig-  54)  I  departed  from  his  model  only  in 
attaching  the  set-screw.  For  the  base  I  used 
a  piece  of  1-16  inch  hard  brass  (A).  To  this 
were  riveted  two  strips  of  brass  (C  C)  of  the 
same  thickness  as  the  steel  center  gauge  (B). 
The  gauge  may  be  had  at  any  hardware  shop 


178    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 


Fig.  54. — Depth  and  Taper  Gauge. 

for  twenty-five  cents.  The  cross-plate  (D) 
may  be  of  any  convenient  thickness.  In  its 
center  drill  a  hole  (E)  and  thread  this  to  take 
the  set-screw  (F).  The  screw  may  also  be 
had  at  hardware  shops. 

The  width  of  the  device  from  C  to  C  must 
correspond  with  that  of  the  center  gauge, 
which,  when  in  place,  may  be  pushed  up  or 
down  without  side  play.  Push  the  center 
gauge  under  the  cross-plate  and  turn  down  the 
set-screw  when  the  point  of  the  gauge  is  ex- 
actly flush  with  the  proper  end  of  plate  A. 
Then  mark  across  the  strip  C  at  G  and  exactly 
in  line  with  one  of  the  quarter-inch  marks  on 
the  gauge.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  when 
the  mark  G  is  opposite  the  next  quarter-inch 
line  on  the  gauge,  the  point  of  gauge  will  pro- 
trude just  34  inch.     If  the  lower  end  of  plate 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  179 

is  exactly  at  right  angles  with  center  of  gauge^, 
the  device  may  also  be  used  for  clearing  the 
groove  In  your  block  from  dust,  and  in  true- 
ing  it  up  while  you  are  making  It  as  well.  I 
made  my  gauge  considerably  wider  than  Mr. 
Letterman's,  so  that  It  Is  of  convenient  form 
to  hold  In  both  hands  while  It  Is  used  as  a 
groove  scraper,  and  Its  wider  bottom  makes  it 
more  accurate  In  trueing  the  grooves. 

The  small  end  of  groove  is  to  be  3^  Inch 
deep.  Therefore,  do  not  plane  that  end 
deeper  than  5-64  Inch,  but  pla^ne  from  the 
24-Inch  mark  to  the  large  end,  then  from  the 
12-Inch  mark  to  the  large  end,  and  so  on,  gaug- 
ing frequently.  When  the  groove  Is  approxi- 
mately 3-64  inch  shallower  throughout  than  It 
must  be  when  finished,  lay  aside  the  plane  and 
thereafter  use  the  scraper  only.  Set  It  at  7-64 
and  scrape  forward  and  back  until  that  depth 
at  the  small  end  of  the  groove  Is  attained. 
Then  scrape  from  the  30-inch  station  toward 
the  large  end,  and  so  on,  gauging  often,  until 
the  depth  at  each  station  Is  1-64  inch  less  than 
it  should  be.  When  satisfied  that  the  groove 
is  true  throughout,  the  final  scraping  from  sta- 
tion to  station,  with  a  change  In  the  gauge  for 
each,  will  result  In  a  groove  that  Is  only  a  trifle 
less  accurate  than  one  made  on  a  machine. 


180    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

If  this  groove  is  for  the  strips  of  the  butt 
joint  of  your  rod,  make  another  one  for  the 
middle  joint,  and  a  third  for  the  tip,  all  start- 
ing from  the  same  end  of  your  block,  and  each 
one  properly  marked  at  each  6-inch  station. 
Just  beside  the  groove  bore  a  hole  through  the 
butt  of  the  block,  and  another  one  at  right 
angles  to  the  first  one.  The  holes  should  be 
of  a  size  to  fit  snugly  over  a  short  steel  pin  to 
be  driven  in  your  work-bench.  This  will  steady 
the  block  while  you  are  planing  strips. 

Finally,  varnish  all  faces  of  the  block,  but 
not  the  grooves.  This  will  preserve  the  pen- 
cil marks,  so  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  to 
renew  them  frequently,  and  will  also  prevent 
the  plane  from  coming  into  contact  with  the 
hardwood  block.  After  the  varnish  has  dried, 
clear  out  the  grooves  with  the  gauge,  to  be  sure 
that  no  varnish  got  into  them.  Any  varnish 
that  happens  to  be  at  hand  will  do  for  the 
block,  and  shellac  will  answer,  though  it  is  not 
very  durable  for  the  purpose. 

It  is  some  trouble  to  make  a  perfect  form 
for  the  three  joints  of  a  rod,  but  after  you 
have  finished  your  first  block  and  find  it  well 
made,  you  need  not  be  ashamed  to  show  it 
to  your  best  friend.  But  there  is  only  one 
way  to  go  about  the  work:     When  you  have 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  181 

decided  just  what  the  calibers  of  your  rod 
are  to  be,  mark  off  three  sides  of  a  good  block 
of  wood,  set  down  the  calibers  thereon,  and 
then  begin  work  on  the  grooves  some  day  when 
you  have  nothing  else  on  hand.  Take  it  easy, 
go  slowly,  and  call  it  a  good  day's  work  when 
the  block  is  ready  for  the  cane. 

Take  another  full  day  for  splitting  and 
roughing  out  the  strips  for  your  rod.  Try  to 
believe  that  all  you  intend  to  do  is  to  work 
out  a  sufficient  number  of  rough  strips,  each 
one  as  perfect  as  possible,  match  joints  and 
lay  aside  until  another  year  each  set  of  six. 
Of  course  you  will  not  do  this,  but  at  any  rate 
go  very  slowly,  for  the  careful  selection  and 
matching  of  strips  are  very  important  steps. 

Tonkin  cane  is  the  only  material  worth  con- 
sidering in  the  making  of  a  first-class  rod. 
The  day  of  the  Calcutta  bamboo  rod  has 
passed,  and  it  is  best  to  forget  that  your  grand- 
father ever  made  a  good  rod  of  that  material. 
I  doubt  if  any  other  amateur  rodmaker  has 
poked  into  more  queer  corners  and  out-of-the 
way  places  in  New  York  City  and  its  environs 
in  search  of  Calcutta  bamboo  than  I  have,  and 
for  all  the  canes  that  I  bought,  carried  home, 
and  finally  threw  away  I  would  not  give  one 
red  stamp  to-day.     It  would  be  a  shameful 


182    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

waste  of  two  perfectly  good  cents.  Tonkin  is 
used  by  all  first-class  rodmakers,  and  al- 
though some  of  them  may  sigh  for  the  good 
old  days  of  the  Calcutta  rod,  in  the  final  analy- 
sis they  will  admit — albeit  modestly — that  they 
are  making  mighty  good  rods  to-day.  The 
truth  is  that  their  best  rods  are  better  by  far 
than  any  that  grandpa  ever  made  of  any  ma- 
terial. What  more,  then,  does  any  amateur 
rodmaker  want? 

Tonkin  cane  comes  to  our  markets  in  bun- 
dles of  two  sizes.  The  longer  canes  are  six 
feet  or  a  trifle  more  in  length,  and  the  average 
diameter  is  about  i}i  inches.  The  canes  in 
the  shorter  bundles  are  about  3^  feet  long, 
and  their  diameter  is  about  i  inch.  These  are 
used  for  tips  or  are  bored  and  capped  for  tip 
tubes. 

From  the  six-foot  canes  select  at  least  three, 
being  particular  to  pick  those  in  which  the  dis- 
tance between  knots  varies.  As  a  rule  the  dis- 
tance between  knots  is  quite  uniform,  but  I 
have  seen  canes  which  had  only  three  knots. 
In  some  the  knots  are  very  close  together  near 
the  root,  and  far  apart  at  the  top  end.  Of 
course,  the  shorter  the  joints  of  your  rod  are 
to  be,  the  more  latitude  will  you  have  in  match- 
ing up  the  strips,  but  If  you  are  planning  to 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  183 

make  a  5^ -foot  bait-casting  tip,  the  selection 
of  canes  will  be  a  more  important  matter. 

The  darker  the  enamel  of  the  canes,  the 
better  are  they  likely  to  be.  Avoid  all  that 
are  green,  grayish-green  or  pale  yellow.  Sea- 
soned canes  are  reddish-yellow,  orange,  or 
straw  color,  with  no  green  tone  whatever. 
When  tapped  with  a  stick  they  give  out  a  good 
strong  round  ring,  somewhat  like  a  metal  tube, 
whereas  the  green  canes  give  forth  a  dull,  flat 
sound. 

Do  not  discard  a  cane  merely  because  It  Is 
cracked,  but  if  it  has  been  crushed,  avoid  it. 
Grayish  stains  may  Indicate  mildew,  possibly 
from  the  hold  of  some  leaky  old  ship,  but 
Irregular  brown  stains  are  sought  by  some 
makers,  and  are  found  on  the  strips  of  nearly 
all  the  best  rods.  This,  I  fear.  Is  but  a  lame 
description,  for  I  am  sure  that  I  can  pick  out 
good  canes  better  than  I  can  describe  just  how 
good  canes  should  look.  It  Is  a  good  deal  like 
picking  out  a  ripe  watermelon.  Any  country 
boy  can  do  this  Instinctively,  and  yet  he  will 
find  It  difficult  to  explain  just  how  he  does  It. 

One  thing  more :  You  may  not  agree  with 
me  as  to  the  color  of  seasoned  and  green  canes 
because  you  have  seen  rods  made  up  from 
canes  showing  decided  greenish  hues.     This  Is 


184    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

true,  but  that  Is  not  proof  that  the  material 
used  had  been  seasoned.  I  have  also  heard 
people  complain  that,  whereas  almost  any  99- 
cent  rod  was  made  from  **  nice,  clear,  white 
cane,"  every  high-priced  rod  was  stained  and 
dark  and  dingy! 

In  splitting  the  canes  use  the  strongest  knife 
you  possess.  There  Is  nothing  better  than  a 
hunting  knife  with  a  good  thick-backed  blade. 
Lay  It  across  the  end  of  the  cane,  so  that  you 
can  split  it  In  half,  and  drive  the  blade  home 
with  a  wood  mallet  or  billet,  continuing  until 
the  other  end  Is  reached.  Split  all  your  canes 
In  half  before  going  further,  then  place  each 
cane  on  your  bench,  with  one  end  against  some- 
thing solid,  and  with  a  carpenter's  gouge  at- 
tack the  knots  Inside  the  halves.  A  large 
gouge  Is  better  than  a  narrow  one,  as  its 
curved  blade  will  fit  the  Inside  of  the  cane 
better  than  a  small  tool.  These  knots  are  very 
tenacious,  and  It  may  be  necessary  to  tap  the 
gouge  lightly  with  the  mallet.  Cut  them  out 
as  smoothly  as  possible,  but  without  cutting 
Into  the  soft  side  of  the  cane.  There  are  two 
good  reasons  for  doing  this  at  the  time :  It  will 
be  easier  to  go  further  with  the  splitting,  and 
the  rived  strips  will  not  need  so  much  rough- 
ing on  that  side. 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  185 

Next  file  all  the  knots  on  the  outside  of  the 
canes,  smoothing  them  down  even  with  the 
enamel.  You  will  find  a  cane  or  part  of  a  cane 
now  and  then  in  which  the  wood  curves  down 
from  the  knot,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain 
anything  like  a  plane  surface  at  that  point. 
Mark  such  points  with  a  blue  pencil,  and  dis- 
card the  strips  carrying  them  after  splitting. 
Such  strips  may  be  straightened  by  heating 
over  an  alcohol  lamp  and  bending  or  clamping 
in  a  vise,  but  they  are  better  out  of  the  way. 

On  the  inside  of  each  half  cane  place  such 
marks  as  will  show  on  every  strip  taken  from 
It,  so  that  in  matching  strips  you  can  surely 
identify  each  one  as  coming  from  a  certain 
cane. 

It  is  generally  possible  to  split  each  half- 
cane  into  three  strips,  each  of  good  width,  but 
if  the  cane  splits  off  to  one  side,  as  sometimes 
happens,  do  not  attempt  to  force  matters,  but 
let  it  go  at  that,  for  it  is  always  better  to  plane 
a  thick  piece  down  to  size  than  to  try  to  split 
to  that  size. 

With  canes  that  are  well  seasoned  it  is  only 
necessary  to  start  the  knife  with  a  smart  blow, 
then  push  it  down,  the  cane  opening  nicely  far 
ahead  of  the  blade  and  in  a  fairly  straight  line. 
But  if  it  splits  badly,  going  off  at  a  tangent 


186    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

or  slivering,  it  is  just  as  well  to  discard  that 
piece  for  something  more  promising.  Any- 
way, this  is  a  case  of  selection,  and  not  of 
making  the  available  material  serve  the  pur- 
pose. In  making  the  butt  of  a  salmon  rod  I 
split  twenty-three  pieces  of  good  cane,  but 
finally  discarded  every  one  of  them  as  not 
quite  up  to  standard,  and  finally  split  out 
twelve  more  strips  of  thinner  material  and 
after  working  them  to  shape,  glued  them  in 
pairs  and  made  the  joint  double  enamel. 

Thus  far  we  have  accomplished  something, 
but  have  really  not  yet  started  to  work,  for 
we  have  no  plane  to  work  with.  Any  old 
plane  will  do?  Not  at  all.  There  is  only  one 
type  that  is  worth  using,  and  it  is  worthless  as 
It  comes  from  the  hardware  shop,  where  the 
price  is  fifty  cents  for  the  plane,  and  about 
half  as  much  more  for  an  extra  iron,  which 
will  come  in  very  handy. 

In  1889  Norman  E.  Spaulding  contributed 
a  very  workmanlike  article  on  rodmaking  to 
the  American  Angler.  In  it  he  referred  to 
the  method  of  altering  the  plane  iron  to 
which  I  refer  below.  This  impressed  me,  but 
it  was  not  until  many  years  afterward  that  I 
began  to  count  Mr.  Spaulding  as  one  of  my 
friends.      Since   then  he   has   given  me   many 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  187 

useful  hints  on  rodmaking.  He  impressed 
me  with  the  fact  that  the  long,  thin  cutting  iron 
of  the  small  plane  was  almost  useless  for  cut- 
ting Tonkin  cane,  but  with  the  alterations  he 
advocated  the  cutter  became  a  sharp  scraper 
rather  than  a  plane,  and  it  did  not  take  me 
very  long  to  find  that  his  method  was  better 
than  any  other  one  that  I  had  ever  tried. 


Fig.    55-— Dotted    Line    Shows    Angle    for    Regrinding 
Plane  Iron. 

Purchase  a  Stanley  No.  220  plane  with 
extra  iron.  This  is  an  adjustable  iron  block 
plane  7^  inches  in  length,  and  the  width  of 
the  iron  is  i^  inches.  If  you  cannot  grind 
the  two  irons  properly,  take  them  to  a  grinder 
and  tell  him  what  is  wanted.  In  Fig.  55  the 
shape  of  the  cutting  edge  of  the  iron  as  it 
comes  from  the  shop  is  given,  while  the  dotted 
line  shows  the  edge  as  it  must  be  after  grind- 
ing. The  cutting  face  of  the  iron  thus  meets 
the  bamboo  at  an  angle  of  about  70  degrees — 
nearly  a  right  angle — and  becomes  in  effect  a 
sharp  scraper  which  will  not  splinter  the  cane 
nor  bite  into  knots.  Tonkin  cane  being  very 
hard,   however,   it  will  be   necessary  to  have 


188    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

your  oilstone  handy,  and  hone  the  cutters  fre- 
quently, for  with  this  blunt  edge  a  very  sharp 
iron  is  a  necessity  as  well  as  a  joy. 

This  brings  us  to  the  rough  work  on  the 
strips.  As  an  aid  I  have  found  that  a  piece 
of  pine  board  with  a  grooved  edge  is  as  good 
as  anything.  Fasten  it  in  your  vise  and  hold 
the  strips  in  the  groove  while  planing  them. 
It  is  a  good  plan  to  plane  the  sides  only  at 
first,  thus  leaving  the  strips  rectangular  in  sec- 
tion, and  tapering  slightly. 

Select  the  best  six  strips  for  the  purpose, 
and  match  them.  Lay  them  all  enamel  up  on 
the  bench,  first  having  marked  on  its  top  two 
lines,  as  far  apart  as  the  length  of  your  rod 
joints  when  finished.  Place  the  first  strip  over 
these  marks  so  that  the  fewest  possible  num- 
ber of  knots  will  be  between  them.  Lay  the 
second  strip  alongside  of  the  first  one,  and 
shift  it  so  that  its  knots  will  not  come  very 
close  to  those  on  the  first  strip.  By  shifting 
the  rest  of  the  strips  many  times,  or  trying 
still  others  instead  of  some  at  first  selected, 
you  will  eventually  be  able  to  match  up  six 
strips  for  the  butt  joint,  with  no  two  knots 
directly  opposite  each  other.  Mark  across  all 
of  them  in  two  places,  and  saw  them,  being 
careful  that  their  length  exceeds  by  at  least 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  189 

two  inches  the  finished  length  of  joint.  Put 
Identification  marks  on  each  strip,  and  lay  them 
all  aside. 

Select  another  set  of  strips  for  the  middle 
joint  of  your  rod^  and  two  more  sets  for  the 
tips — that  is,  if  you  intend  to  make  a  spare 
one.  It  is  sometimes  well,  however,  to  leave 
the  tips  until  the  last,  for  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  you  will  reject  some  strips  after  they 
are  partly  finished,  as  not  quite  up  to  standard 
for  butt  or  joint,  and  if  these  are  not  defec- 
tive in  any  way  they  may  be  worked  over  for 
tips. 

In  all  of  this  work  of  selection  it  is  a  good 
plan  not  to  pick  out  for  any  one  joint  more 
than  two  strips  from  each  cane  split  up,  and 
one  would  be  even  better.  From  several 
good  canes  it  is  likely  you  will  get  a  better 
set  than  if  they  were  all  taken  from  one  or 
two.  If  two  strips  from  the  same  cane  are 
put  in  a  joint,  see  that  they  do  not  He  on  dia- 
metrically opposite  sides,  as  the  strips  of  a 
rod  work  in  pairs,  and  each  pair  should  con- 
sist of  two  perfect  strips. 

Mr.  Letterman  prepares  the  rectangular 
strips  for  the  final  beveling  by  drawing  them 
through  the  large  V  in  his  center  gauge. 
These   gauges   are   highly  tempered,   and  the 


190    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

edges  will  cut  like  a  sharp  scraper.  He  fas- 
tens the  gauge  in  a  vise,  bandages  the  thumb 
and  fore  finger  of  the  left  hand,  to  prevent 
cutting  them  on  the  gauge  or  the  sharp  edges 
of  the  cane,  then  draws  the  strips  through  the 
gauge.  The  strip  is  inclined  slightly,  to  pre- 
sent a  better  cutting  edge,  and  considerable 
pressure  is  exerted  by  thumb  and  finger.  I 
have  tried  this  plan  with  satisfaction  and  can 
recommend  it. 

If  I  were  beginning  all  over  again,  I  would 
use  nothing  in  rod — and  other — work  but  a 
micrometer  caliper;  but  while  I  use  one  a 
great  deal,  in  rodmaking  I  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  using  a  gauge  marked  in  64ths  of  an 
inch,  and  to  change  would  necessitate  the  cor- 
recting of  a  great  many  charts  and  working 
plans.  There  is  one  thing  that  will  help  ma- 
terially, and  that  is  to  ignore  all  coarser  desig- 
nations under  one  inch  and  use  64ths  alone. 
By  this  I  mean  to  designate  ys  as  8-64,  and 
so  on,  the  idea  being  to  eliminate,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  necessity  for  mental  calculations 
of  any  kind  while  you  are  working.  You  may 
consider  this  point  trivial,  but  let  someone  call 
you  to  lunch  while  you  are  on  a  delicate  piece 
of  work,  and  unconsciously  you  begin  to  rush 
things  in  order  to  reach  a  satisfactory  stop- 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  191 

ping  place — and  the  result  very  often  is  a  slip 
or  something  that  will  mar  your  work.  That 
is  one  reason  why  the  micrometer  is  so  satis- 
factory; the  marks  are  all  in  thousandths. 

At  first  you  will  not  be  expert  enough  to 
attempt  to  bevel  and  taper  a  strip  held  in  the 
grooved  board  mentioned,  although  you  can 
readily  reduce  each  strip  to  satisfactory  shape 
in  this  way  and  by  drawing  through  the  cen- 
ter gauge.  From  this  stage  on,  then,  consult 
your  microfheter  or  gauge  often,  noting  at  the 
same  time  the  readings  on  your  grooved  block. 

In  using  the  block  plane  with  scraper  edge 
you  can  plane  a  strip  from  either  end  without 
the  slightest  fear  of  cutting  into  grain  or  knot. 
Therefore  plane  toward  the  butt  end  of  your 
strips  until  they  are  of  good  form  and  size, 
then  reverse  them  and  holding  the  strip  in  the 
groove  with  left  thumb  behind  the  plane,  work 
toward  the  other  end,  first  on  one  side,  then  on 
the  other,  always  being  careful  to  see  that  the 
enamel  fare  of  strip  lies  true  in  the  groove. 
And  as  the  edges  of  Tonkin  are  very  sharp, 
either  bandage  the  left  thumb  or  provide  it 
with  the  thumb  of  an  old  glove,  and  in  either 
case  dip  the  member  in  powdered  rosin  fre- 
quently. Should  you  sustain  a  bad  cut — and 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  avoid  this  at  first — 


192    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

dip  the  injured  finger  at  once  into  shellac,  then 
into  sawdust.  By  this  treatment  bleeding  will 
be  checked,  and  inflammation  will  not  set  in, 
to  spoil  your  work  for  a  week. 

Of  course  it  is  wise  to  set  the  plane  very  fine, 
and  to  work  slowly.  Besides  gauging  fre- 
quently, test  the  strips  often  with  your  center 
gauge,  to  see  that  the  angles  are  true.  It  is 
also  possible  to  gauge  them  on  all  sides  at  the 
same  time,  but  this  requires  a  gauge  specially 
fitted.  Such  a  one  was  made  for  me  by 
a  fellow  angler,  J.  E.  Radford,  of  Hyde  Park, 
Mass.  This  consisted  of  a  caliper  gauge  with 
a  center  gauge  so  fastened  across  its  face  that 
the  readings  on  the  slide  of  the  gauge  were 
correct  for  each  face.  In  use  the  strip  is 
passed  through  the  triangular  opening  and  the 
slide  closed.  In  a  moment  the  strip  may  be 
tested  and  marked,  if  necessary,  at  any  num- 
ber of  places  throughout  its  length,  and  very 
accurate  work  is  therefore  possible. 

When  all  the  strips  have  been  planed  to 
nearly  perfect  size  and  taper,  put  them  to- 
gether, and  with  a  length  of  string  wind  them 
spirally  from  end  to  end,  exerting  consider- 
able tension  meanwhile.  Caliper  on  all  sides 
from  end  to  end,  marking  in  your  own  fashion 
a  place  that  is  too  high,  too  low,  or  too  wide, 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  193 

as  the  case  may  be.  Take  them  apart  again 
and  correct  the  errors,  rewind  them,  and  so 
on  until  you  are  satisfied  with  the  result. 

At  this  stage  it  is  well  to  have  in  hand  a 
memorandum  of  the  calibers  of  the  ferrules 
you  plan  to  put  on  your  rod,  and  to  work  to- 
ward that  end.  Remember  that  the  diameter 
of  the  cane  on  flat  surfaces  cannot  be  less  than 
the  inside  diameter  of  the  ferrule  that  is  to  go 
on  it.  It  is  better  to  use  a  large  ferrule  than 
one  requiring  filing  the  cane  to  fit. 

Of  course  the  work  on  middle  joint  and  tip 
will  be  like  that  already  described,  but,  con- 
trary to  the  lay  opinion,  it  is  easier.  When 
an  outsider  looks  at  a  slender  tip  and  is  told 
that  there  are  six  strips  in  it,  he  marvels 
greatly,  but  with  the  system  described  it  is 
not  so  very  difficult  to  make  tips  after  you 
have  had  some  practice  with  the  thicker  and 
less  wieldy  butt  strips. 

Before  you  make  the  middle  joint,  glue  up 
the  butt,  and  perhaps  that  work  will  give  you 
an  idea  or  two  that  will  help  you  in  the  sub- 
sequent work  with  the  plane.  At  least  it  will 
show  you  that  illy  fitted  strips  will  not  be  im- 
proved or  hidden  in  the  glueing,  and  that  you 
have  got  to  have  them  right  before  you  cement 
up  the  faults  past  correcting. 


194    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

There  may  be  a  better  glue  than  Coignet 
No.  I,  a  French  product  that  is  called  after 
the  chemist  of  that  name,  but  if  so  I  am  not 
familiar  with  it.  Let  it  soak  overnight  in  just 
enough  water  to  cover  the  glue  in  the  pot.  At 
best  glueing  strips  is  a  messy  proceeding,  but 
if  you  will  go  to  a  little  extra  trouble  some  of 
the  unpleasant  details  may  be  eliminated. 
From  the  plumber's  scrap-heap  select  a  piece 
of  pipe  of  any  size  and  at  least  two-thirds  the 
length  of  your  rod  joints.  If  one  end  is 
threaded,  have  a  cap  fitted  to  that  end.  This 
is  your  glue  tank. 

Glue  the  strips  in  a  warm  room,  and  have 
strips,  glue,  and  temperature  uncomfortably 
warm.  Provide  a  large  pail  of  boiling  water, 
and  when  all  is  ready,  pour  the  glue  from  its 
pot  into  the  tube,  set  the  latter  in  the  pail  of 
water,  and  insert  the  bundle  of  strips  at  least 
a  foot  into  the  hot  glue.  Holding  the  strips 
just  above  the  glue  mark,  wind  spirally  with  a 
piece  of  strong  cord  down  to  the  glued  end  and 
two-thirds  of  the  way  back.  Grasp  the  glued 
portion,  unwind  about  three  inches  of  the  por- 
tion first  wound,  dip  into  the  glue  and  hold 
there  until  all  of  the  strips  are  well  coated, 
and  the  chilled  glue  at  the  place  of  commence- 
ment shall  have  had  time  to  be  warmed  up. 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  EODMAKING  195 

then  resume  winding  toward  the  small  end, 
dipping  that  end  frequently,  to  keep  the  glue 
hot.  When  that  end  is  reached,  reverse  and 
wind  back  to  the  other  end,  and  tie  off. 

Roll  the  bundle  of  strips  smartly  back  and 
forth  on  a  table,  to  straighten  them,  but  do 
not  attempt  to  bend  them,  as  every  bend  that 
is  trued  will  put  a  kink  into  the  strips  some- 
where else.  Suspend  the  joint  from  a  nail  in 
a  warm  room  for  several  days  until  the  glue 
has  had  plenty  of  time  to  set,  then  remove  the 
cord  windings  and  scrape  off  the  surplus  glue. 
With  a  fine  file  go  over  each  of  the  six  faces 
lightly,  then  rub  over  all  with  an  old  piece  of 
very  fine  sandpaper. 

The  corners  should  not  be  rounded,  as  this 
will  take  away  part  of  the  enamel,  but  they 
may  be  rubbed  a  trifle  to  remove  the  sharp 
edges.  If  the  joint  be  straight,  congratulate 
yourself;  if  not,  pass  it  through  the  flame  of 
an  alcohol  lamp  until  it  is  uncomfortably  hot 
t0  the  touch,  turning  rapidly  while  so  doing, 
then  true  it  up  and  it  is  ready  for  the  ferrules. 

For  the  sake  of  brevity,  let  us  assume  that 
your  rod  is  to  be  a  fly  rod,  and  that  you  are 
particular  that  it  be  of  a  certain  length.  In 
order  to  determine  the  lengths  of  the  three 
principal  pieces,  lay  them  on  the  floor,  with 


196    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

the  ferrules  beside  them,  and  allowing  for  the 
ferrules,  divide  the  known  total  length  by- 
three,  and  marking  each  joint,  lay  the  three 
side  by  side  and  check  up.  Remember  that 
the  large  ferrules  are  longer  than  the  other 
set,  and  that  the  reel-seat  will  add  a  trifle  to 
the  length  of  the  lower  joint. 

Provide  a  piece  of  clear  white  pine  for  the 
butt  of  the  joint,  shape  it  to  fit  inside  the  reel- 
seat,  and  bore  it  carefully,  then  glue  it  in  place 
on  the  butt  so  that  it  will  be  a  quarter-inch 
shorter  than  the  reel-seat.  Good  quality  sheet 
cork  is  nicest  for  the  hand-grasp,  and  if  you 
have  no  large  metal  tube  handy  to  cut  it  with, 
cut  it  up  in  squares  about  i^  inches  in  diam- 
eter, then  hunt  up  an  old  ferrule  of  proper 
size,  file  one  end  sharp,  and  cut  holes  in  each 
square  to  fit  over  the  joint.  Do  not  try  to 
cut  the  cork  by  hammering  the  cutter,  but  hold 
the  latter  in  one  hand  and  with  a  circular  mo- 
tion cut  out  the  corks.  When  a  sufficient  num- 
ber have  been  made  ready,  push  them  down, 
glue-coated,  one  at  a  time,  to  the  reel-seat 
dummy,  mismatching  the  squares  so  that  no 
two  corners  will  come  together.  Slide  an  old 
piece  of  heavy  pipe  down  on  the  lot,  and  set 
the  joint  away  in  a  corner  until  the  glue  is 
dry. 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  197 

The  grasp  may  be  roughed  out  with  a  sharp 
knife  until  most  of  the  corners  are  removed, 
then  rub  lengthwise  with  coarse  sandpaper 
fitted  over  a  wood  block,  then  with  fine  sand- 
paper, turning  constantly  and  calipering  fre- 
quently to  preserve  the  shape.  Try  the  reel- 
seat  now  and  then,  and  the  winding  check  as 
well,  and  when  the  grasp  is  shaped  to  fit  both 
properly,  rub  lightly  with  an  old  piece  of  the 
finest  grade  of  sandpaper,  and  turn  your  atten- 
tion to  the  ferrule. 

Mark  the  cane  at  the  point  where  the  fer- 
rule is  to  rest,  then  file  off  the  corners  from  a 
point  just  above  this  mark  to  the  end,  being 
extremely  careful  to  keep  the  cutting  true  with 
the  axis  of  the  cane.  Of  course  it  is  far  better 
to  prepare  the  cane  for  ferrules  in  a  lathe,  but 
good  work  may  be  done  without  one.  File  and 
try  until  you  are  sure  that  the  ferrule  will  go 
home  with  a  little  forcing,  then  heat  your  ce- 
ment and  the  wood  over  the  alcohol  lamp,  rub 
the  cement  on  evenly,  and  warming  the  ferrule 
slightly,  push  it  on  with  steady  pressure  until 
it  is  down  to  the  pencil  mark.  If  it  is  a  split 
or  serrated  ferrule,  wind  the  end  temporarily 
with  a  bit  of  string,  then  cement  the  reel-seat 
on  the  other  end  in  similar  fashion  and  attach 
the  winding  check. 


198    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

Good  cement  for  this  work  may  be  had  from 
dealers,  but  I  have  never  found  anything  that 
will  hold  better  than  old,  sticky  shellac — ^just 
such  stuff  as  you  will  find  in  a  bottle  that  has 
been  left  standing  a  long  time  without  a 
stopper.  You  may  have  to  pry  it  out  with  a 
stick,  but  warm  it  and  it  will  hold  a  ferrule  in 
place  until  the  cows  come  home.  I  have  an 
idea  that  a  trifle  of  plaster  of  Paris  mixed  with 
it  will  improve  it,  but  have  not  as  yet  used  this 
on  a  ferrule,  though  it  will  hold  arrow  piles 
nicely. 

Procure  a  small  section  of  hard  German  sil- 
ver wire,  and  a  twist  drill,  each  3-64  inch  thick. 
Drill  a  hole  in  the  reel-seat  and  down  to  the 
cane,  fitting  it  with  a  suitable  length  of  the 
wire,  and  file  off  the  end  flush  with  the  sur- 
face. Mark  a  place  at  about  the  center  of 
female  ferrules,  and  toward  the  end  of  male 
ferrules,  and  securing  the  joint  In  a  vise,  drill 
carefully  entirely  through  each  ferrule,  fit  pins, 
and  smooth  off  the  ends.  When  a  good  fer- 
rule is  properly  cemented,  then  pinned  through, 
it  should  never  work  loose  unless  exposed  to 
the  drying  Incident  to  steam-heated  places. 
Cement  alone  will  hold  most  ferrules,  and  this 
method  will  answer  for  the  beginner  who  may 
not  be  handy  in  delicate  work,  but  all  of  the 


SPLIT  BAMBOO  RODMAKING  199 

best  rods  are  equipped  with  pinned  ferrules, 
and  it  is  seldom  indeed  that  one  of  them  ever 
comes  loose,  even  when  kept  in  very  dry  places. 
In  selecting  the  guides  for  your  rod,  try  to 
procure  tops  fitted  with  phosphor-bronze,  or, 
failing  in  that,  hard  steel  rings.  For  the  hand 
guide  agate  is  all  right,  though  I  dislike  agates 
for  fly  rods  for  the  reason  that  they  are  so 
easily  broken.  Bronze  is  better  in  every  way, 
and  as  it  is  a  so-called  greasy  metal,  it  wears 
but  slowly,  and  to  offset  this  the  rings  may  be 
turned  now  and  then  and  cemented  with  a  drop 
of  shellac.  For  the  other  guides,  select  bronzed 
steel  snake  rings,  and  have  them  a  trifle  large 
rather  than  too  small,  so  that  the  line  will  ren- 
der through  them  freely.  It  is  a  curious  fact 
that  the  total  number  of  guides  for  a  fly  rod 
is  generally  13.  May  it  be  a  lucky  number 
with  you. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

WINDING  RODS 

THIS  subject  has  been  kept  for  a  separate 
chapter  in  order  that  the  various  steps 
in  rodmaking  can  be  clearly  understood, 
and  to  avoid  repetition.  Winding  is  a  part  of 
the  work  that  can  be  done  at  odd  moments,  on 
a  rainy  day  or  in  the  evening,  though  I  would 
not  advise  night  work  with  colored  silks,  so 
trying  are  they  on  the  eyes. 

Let  us  assume,  then,  that  you  have  finished 
a  rod — Its  type  does  not  matter,  as  the  wind- 
ing is  similar  for  all  rods — and  that  it  has 
been  rubbed  lightly  with  varnish  and  hung  up 
until  absolutely  dry. 

The  first  things  to  consider  are  the  guides. 
If  the  bait-rod  Is  for  accuracy  casting  or  for 
fishing,  the  hand  guide — the  first  one  above 
the  reel — ^will  be  placed  nearer  the  reel,  and 
more  guides  will  be  used  than  on  a  rod  Intend- 
ed for  distance  casting  only,  on  which  two  or 
three  guides  only  will  be  used.    For  fly-rods  the 

200 


WINDING  RODS  201 

position  and  number  of  guides  depend  upon  its 
caliber  and  length. 

Take  up  the  guides  one  by  one  and  file  the 
upper  edges  of  the  bases,  so  that  the  silk  will 
not  be  cut  by  them  in  winding;  then,  with  a 
few  turns  of  common  thread,  tie  each  one  on 
the  rod  and  true  them  all  up  by  sighting 
through  them  from  both  directions.  To  assist 
in  their  alignment  tiny  shallow  holes  should 
be  drilled  in  both  ferrules,  so  that  in  putting 
the  rod  together  it  is  merely  necessary  to  seat 
the  ferrules  with  the  two  marks  opposite  in 
order  to  align  the  guides  perfectly.  This  ap- 
plies to  all  rods. 

On  bait-casting  rods  for  tournament  work 
alone,  it  seems  best  to  use  only  two  guides,  so 
that  the  hand  guide  must  be  three  feet  or  more 
from  the  reel,  the  distance  between  it  and  the 
second  guide  being  slightly  more  than  the  dis- 
tance between  the  second  guide  and  the  agate 
top,  in  order  to  insure  the  least  possible  friction 
on  the  line. 

If  you  are  particular  to  have  the  windings  as 
handsome  as  possible,  putting  them  on  without 
wax  will  tend  to  preserve  their  color,  if  they 
are  carefully  coated  with  shellac  before  var- 
nishing. On  a  rod  whose  preliminary  coat  of 
varnish  is  still  a  trifle  soft,  yet  not  tacky,  un- 


202    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

waxed  silk  will  adhere  nicely  when  it  will  not 
on  hard  varnish.  Provided  the  silk  is  treated 
with  absolutely  colorless  wax  in  clean  hands,  it 
will  keep  its  color  fairly  well,  but  after  the 
first  two  or  three  windings  are  put  on  and 
coated  with  shellac,  the  tyro  will  understand 
why  dark  shades  of  silk  cannot  well  be  used. 
For  example,  dark  green  silk,  waxed  but  not 
shellacked,  will  turn  almost  black  under  the 
varnish,  and  red  turns  a  dull  shade.  Wax 
causes  the  silk  to  grip  the  wood  firmly  and  it 
waterproofs  the  wood  in  places  where  there  is 
only  one  coat  of  varnish.  Still,  there  is  no 
necessity  for  waxing  the  silk. 

A  spHt  cane  rod,  properly  made  and  ce- 
mented, can  be  used  without  windings,  pro- 
vided it  IS  not  exposed  to  actual  soaking.  Fol- 
lowing this  line  of  reasoning,  some  rodmakers 
hold  that  winding  a  rod  does  not  strengthen 
it  materially.  This  may  be  true  of  rods  whose 
windings  are  spaced  i^  or  2  inches  apart, 
but  if  these  are  placed  one  inch  or  less  apart 
they  do  strengthen  the  rod.  A  rod  that  is 
soft  in  action  may  be  strengthened  by  close 
windings  or  by  winding  continuously  from  end 
to  end  in  spirals,  provided  the  latter  are  spaced 
about  one  thirty-second  of  an  Inch  and  not 
put  on  solidly. 


WINDING  BODS  203 

If  you  are  in  no  hurry  it  is  well  to  make  the 
windings  on  the  butt  of  split  cane  rods  narrow, 
say  twelve  turns  each,  but  space  them  about 
i^  inches  apart,  with  six  or  more  windings 
y2  inch  apart  next  to  the  ferrule.  On  the 
joint  make  the  spaces  one  inch,  with  a  similar 
cluster  next  the  ferrules,  and  vary  those  on 
the  tip  from  }i  to  ^  inch.  I  am  a  firm  be- 
liever in  closer  windings  near  the  ferrules,  to 
strengthen  the  strips  there  against  damage  in 
twisting — not  that  ferrules  should  be  sepa- 
rated in  any  other  manner  than  by  a  straight 
pull. 

It  is  safe,  but  not  always  advisable  to  wind 
in  spiral  form,  provided  the  spirals  are  not 
so  close  together  as  to  come  under  the  descrip- 
tive term  "  solidly  wound";  for  solid  winding 
renders  a  rod  soft  in  action,  loading  it  down 
with  a  non-resilient  sleeve  filled  with  var- 
nish. 

I  do  not  advocate  continuous  spiral  wind- 
ing, but  I  believe  in  stiffening  a  rod  in  this 
manner  if  the  need  arises.  The  plan  I  have 
followed  with  satisfactory  results  is  to  start 
winding  in  the  usual  way,  but  after  complet- 
ing ten  or  a  dozen  turns,  instead  of  cutting  the 
silk  and  pulling  the  end  under,  I  follow  the 
*'  band  "  by  winding  spirally — each  turn  about 


204    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

1-32  of  an  inch  from  the  next  one — for  an 
inch  or  more,  then  winding  solidly  ten  or 
twelve  turns,  followed  by  another  inch  or  two 
of  spiral  winding,  and  so  on  to  the  first  guide, 
where  the  silk  ends.  Another  series  of  bands 
and  spiral  windings  is  begun  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  guide,  ending  at  the  second  guide, 
or  the  ferrule,  as  the  case  may  be. 

This  spiral  winding  calls  for  two  or  three 
coats  of  varnish,  which  should  fill  the  inter- 
stices between  spirals,  so  that  the  surface  will 
be  smooth,  as  otherwise  a  knock  or  rough 
handling  will  break  the  single  strands  of  silk. 
The  bands  alone  are  coated  with  shellac. 

As  previously  stated,  I  have  great  faith  in 
the  conclusions  arrived  at  after  long  experi- 
ence by  Frederic  M.  Halford.  He  advocates 
winding  fly-rods  closely,  from  one-half  to 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  apart.  In  his  opin- 
ion this  increases  the  steely  spring  of  a  split 
cane  rod  and  strengthens  wood  rods  appre- 
ciably. He  does  not  state  how  wide  these 
windings  should  be,  but  It  is  assumed  that 
they  are  narrow,  say  seven  threads  in  width, 
since  wider  ones  are  unsightly. 

When  your  rod  is  ready  to  be  wound,  your 
hands  being  perfectly  clean,  lay  on  your  work 
table  a  small  spool  of  buttonhole  silk,  the  silk 


WINDING  RODS 


205 


to  be  used  in  winding,  a  bit  of  wax,  a  pair  of 
small  scissors,  and  a  very  sharp  knife.  From 
the  buttonhole  silk  cut  a  piece  four  inches 
long,  wax  it,  lay  the  ends  together  and  draw  it 
through  the  fingers  until  it  will  lie  straight 
with  the  looped  end  ready  for  use.  We  will 
call  it  the  pull-through. 

It  is  assumed  that  your  silk  is  not  waxed, 
and  that  you  take  up  the  butt  joint  of  your 
rod,  the  first  winding  to  be  put  on  just  above 
the  metal  taper  of  the  handgrasp.  Lay  the 
silk  along  the  rod,  hold  the  end  with  the  left 
thumb  and  begin  the  first  circle,  toward  the 
right,  turning  the  rod  toward  the  left  mean- 


Fig.  56. — Method  of  Attaching  Winding  at  Beginning. 


206    AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

while.  This  will  bind  the  end  of  silk,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  56.  Turn  the  rod  slowly  toward  the 
left  with  the  left  hand,  holding  the  silk  tight 
in  the  right  hand,  which  guides  it.  Draw  the 
silk  as  tight  as  possible  during  the  first  three 
turns,  so  that  it  will  adhere  to  the  rod. 

If  you  wish  to  make  ten  or  twelve  circlets, 
after  the  sixth  one  lay  the  pull-through  {d  Fig. 
57)  along  the  rod,  loop  toward  the  left,  and 


-^j"  — 


01 

Figure   57. 


wind  over  it,  as  shown  in  Fig.  60;  but  if  the 
winding  is  to  be  narrow,  the  pull-through 
should  be  inserted  at  the  beginning.  This  step 
is  illustrated  in  Figs.  57  and  58.     Count  each 


Figure  58. 


complete  circlet,  at  least  at  first,  in  order  that 
all  windings  will  be  uniform.  At  the  end  hold 
the  wound  silk  under  the  left  thumb,  cut  it 
within  an  inch  of  the  thumb,  tuck  the  end  {b 


WINDING  RODS 


207 


Figure    sg. 


Figure  60. 


Figure  61. 


Fig.  58)  through  the  loop  of  the  pull-through 
and  draw  the  latter  under  the  winding,  the 
end  of  silk  following  as  in  Fig.  59. 

When  the  pull-through  is  free,  pull  on  the 
end  {b)  of  winding  silk  until  it  is  tight,  then 
shave  it  off  even  with  the  winding  and  cut  the 
original  end  {a)  even  with  the  last  circlet  of 
silk.  (This  is  often  cut  after  the  fifth  or  sixth 
circlet.)  Fig.  61  illustrates  the  method  em- 
ployed in  making  a  narrow  border  of  say,  red, 
for  a  wide  band  of  say,  green.  The  figure 
shows  the  wide  green  band  finished  and  the 
first  stage  in  winding  the  border.  In  this  case 
the  original  end  of  silk  {a  Fig.  59)  is  not  cut 
off  until  the  border  is  finished,  as  it  helps  to 
hold  both  bands  together.     The  pull-through 


208    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

Is  inserted  at  the  beginning  of  the  border  wind- 
ing, and  used  in  the  same  manner  as  illustrated 
In  Fig.  59. 

This  method  of  manipulating  rod  windings 
is  the  simplest  one  of  several  for  making  so- 
called  endless  windings.  It  is  capable  of  nu- 
merous variations,  and  it  is  not  only  easy  to 
learn,  but  insures  satisfaction. 

The  secret  of  the  method  is  to  keep  the 
pull-through  of  buttonhole  silk  well  waxed, 
and  to  discard  it  for  a  new  one  whenever  It 
shows  wear. 

In  all  books  on  rodmaking  more  compli- 
cated forms  of  winding  are  described  and 
illustrated.  The  first  step  is  alike  in  all  of 
these,  but  their  authors  describe  the  finishing 
step  in  other  ways.  The  most  common  form 
consists  in  laying  the  winding  silk  along  the 
rod,  so  that  long  spirals  can  be  passed  over 
the  end  of  the  rod  and  drawn  taut,  then  the 
silk  is  pulled  under  in  the  same  way  as  de- 
scribed by  me,  save  that  no  separate  pull- 
through  is  employed.  If  one  is  winding  near 
the  middle  of  a  long  joint,  this  method  is  te- 
dious in  the  extreme,  and  the  silk  not  only 
snarls  up,  but  becomes  frayed.  There  is  a 
way  to  partially  overcome  this,  which  consists 
in  first  winding  backward  in  long  spirals,  pass- 


WINDING  RODS  209 

ing  tne  end  under  these,  winding  tight,  then 
pulling  the  silk  under;  but  it,  too,  is  tedious. 

Many  years  ago  I  discarded  these  methods 
for  the  separate  pull-through,  and  have  used 
It  In  all  windings  since  then.  It  may  be  an- 
cient, but  I  have  never  seen  It  described  in  any 
work  on  fishing  tackle.*  It  is,  however,  one 
of  the  most  useful  of  all  wrinkles,  and  is  par- 
ticularly handy  in  splicing  silk  lines.  With  this 
pull-through  fancy  windings  of  only  two  or 
three  turns  of  silk  can  be  so  neatly  made  that 
only  after  "minute  inspection  can  the  blind  ends 
of  the  silk  be  seen.  Indeed,  I  have  heard 
anglers  assert  that  such  windings  had  been 
pasted  down  with  shellac,  and  only  after  in- 
specting them  with  a  magnifying  glass  were 
they  convinced  that  the  silk  ends  were  actually 
pulled  under  and  cut  off. 

I  have  examined  split  bamboo  tournament 
rods  In  which  the  lower  strips  had  given  way 
through  hard  usage,  but  the  narrow  bands  of 
silk  had  held  so  firmly  that  they  were  all  rup- 

*  In  reviewing  "  Rodmaking  for  Beginners,"  Hugh  T. 
Sheringham,  angling  editor  of  the  London  Field,  said, 
among  other  things :  "  Here  and  there  he  gives  some 
very  sage  advice  of  general  application,  and  some  ad- 
mirable hints.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  his  system 
of  finishing  off  a  whipping  by  means  of  a  *pull  through,* 
quite  one  of  the  most  useful  things  we  have  seen  for 
some  time,  and  one  which  we  do  not  remember  to  have 
seen  elsewhere." 


210    AMATEUR   BODMAKING 

tured  at  the  line  of  the  break,  the  ends  re- 
maining unmoved.  This  also  shows  the 
strength   of    silk   windings,    however   narrow. 

Different  persons  wind  rods  differently. 
My  way  may  not  be  the  best  one,  but  I  will 
describe  it.  I  begin  with  the  butt  joint  and 
place  a  rather  wide  band  of,  say,  green,  with 
a  narrow  red  border  next  to  the  handgrasp 
taper,  then  a  similar  band  on  each  side  of  the 
ferrules  and  at  the  top.  After  that  I  wind  the 
guides  with,  say,  green,  with  narrow  red  bor- 
ders. This  leaves  only  red  silk  to  finish,  and 
enables  you  to  evenly  divide  the  remaining 
spaces  to  be  wound.  The  space  between  the 
handgrasp  and  the  first  guide  is  measured. 
Mark  off  every  1^4  inches  from  the  guide 
down,  and  if  you  like  finish  up  with  eight  or 
ten  five-turn  windings  just  ahead  of  the  first 
band  at  the  taper,  for  ornaments.  Wind  the 
red  bands,  then  mark  the  spaces  between  the 
two  guides,  or  hand  guide  and  ferrule,  wind 
there,  and  so  on.  So  long  as  all  spacing  is 
uniform,  any  necessary  variations  will  not  be 
noticed,  but  as  a  general  thing  make  the  spaces 
closer  and  closer  toward  the  tip,  and  if  there 
is  a  separate  tip,  place  its  guides  and  windings 
so  that  it  will  match  its  fellow  tip. 

At  first  one  is  inclined  to  make  his  windings 
wide,   believing  that  they  are   handsome   so; 


WINDING  RODS  211 

but  as  they  are  not  necessary,  it  is  well  to  make 
them  all  ten  or  twelve  turns,  with  still  nar- 
rower ones  next  to  the  wide  bands  covering 
the  guides,  and  at  the  ends  of  the  joints.  Red 
being  a  lasting  color,  it  is  well  to  use  it  through- 
out, with  light  or  medium  green  for  borders. 
All  red  without  ornaments  requires  much  less 
work,  but  is  not  so  neat  as  if  there  is  some 
relief.  If  you  object  to  colors,  use  cream  or 
light  yellow  silk,  which  will  hardly  show  on 
bamboo  or  dagama.  For  bethabara  red  is 
standard.  Green  alone  or  as  a  predominat- 
ing color  lacks  taste,  although  it  comes  out  well 
^for  narrow  borders  with  red.  At  one  time  I 
happened  to  see  a  spool  of  lilac  silk  while  wind- 
ing a  rod,  and  tried  it.  It  looked  so  neat  at 
first  that  I  used  it  throughout  the  rod,  using 
apple  green  for  borders.  The  rod  was  a  good 
one,  but  I  couldn't  stand  those  colors,  and 
gave  it  away  to  a  fisherman  in  Canada. 
Somehow  the  colors  **  got  on  his  nerves,"  too, 
and  he  in  turn  gave  the  rod  to  an  uncle  whose 
vision  was  poor.  I  trust  the  old  gentleman 
does  not  consider  it  a  hoodoo  rod,  as  his 
nephew  and  its  maker  did 

There  is  a  sort  of  unwritten  law  among 
rodmakers  to  use  heavy  winding  silk  on  large 
rods,  and  so  on  down  to  the  finest  silk  foi 
light  fly-rods.     It  is  well  to  follow  this  rule 


212    AMATEUR   RODMAKING 

so  far  as  may  be  possible.  On  tarpon,  heavy- 
salt  water  and  trolling  rods,  on  salmon  rods 
and  on  the  butt  joints  of  heavy  fly-rods  size 
A  is  the  proper  thing.  It  is  the  commercial 
size  that  can  be  obtained  anywhere.  Size  O 
is  suitable  for  joints,  size  00  for  tips  of  most 
rods,  and  for  light  fly-rods.  One  reason  for 
this  is  that  on  tips  the  heavier  silk  is  likely  to 
be  cut  through  by  the  line  as  it  shoots  through 
the  guides  in  casting  the  fly,  whereas  the  finer 
silk  windings  may  be  unaffected.  On  tourna- 
ment fly-rods,  when  the  line  is  coiled  on  a 
platform  that  is  covered  with  grit,  it  is  not 
unusual  to  see  the  windings  of  tips  cut  through 
as  if  with  a  dull  knife. 

Smaller  silk  than  A  is  difficult  to  obtain  of 
the  retail  trade,  but  there  is  a  way  to  so 
utilize  A  silk  that  it  will  answer  every  require- 
ment, with  a  lasting  supply  always  at  hand  in 
the  nearest  dry  goods  store.  This  method 
follows : 

Having  selected  the  colors  desired,  wind 
the  guides  and  ferrules — if  the  latter  are  split 
or  serrated — with  size  A.  If  the  ferrule  and 
guide  windings  are  to  have  borders  of  another 
color,  leave  these  until  the  last  thing.  Take 
a  spool  of  A  and  cut  off  a  piece  a  foot  long 
and  rub  this  carefully  with  wax,  which  must 
be  colorless  and  free  from  foreign  matter  that 


WINDING  RODS  213 

will  darken  the  silk.  Twist  this  piece  of  silk 
in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  followed  in 
its  manufacture,  so  that  the  strands  will  sepa- 
rate, and  hold  them  apart  until  each  one  of 
the  three  can  be  removed  and  laid  aside.  Now 
take  up  one  of  the  strands  and  wax  it  thor- 
oughly. It  will  remain  a  trifle  kinky,  but  that 
will  not  matter.  After  it  is  waxed,  it  will 
cease  trying  to  snarl  up,  as  at  first,  and  you 
will  have  a  really  strong  thread  of  silk  floss 
much  softer  than  the  three-ply  strand  from 
which  it  was  taken.  Try  It  on  the  thin  tip 
of  a  fly-rod,  and  you  will  notice  that  in  wind- 
ing it  will  lie  flat  and  spread  out  a  trifle,  like 
a  ribbon,  while  it  will  not  look  so  lumpy,  even 
as  a  thread  of  00  silk,  and  after  the  rod  has 
been  varnished  the  windings  will  be  very  neat 
and  workmanlike 

It  is  obvious  that  this  thread  Is  not  as 
strong  as  three-ply,  and  It  should  be  tested  to 
determine  how  much  strain  it  will  bear  with- 
out breaking.  It  Is  stronger,  however,  than 
would  be  supposed,  and  I  have  wound  a  fly- 
rod  tip  with  separated  strands  of  O  without 
breaking  more  than  three  all  told;  so  that  the 
A  strands  will  give  little  trouble  on  this  score 
if  properly  waxed. 

Of  course,  in  employing  this  method,  you 
cannot  work  from  the  spool,  but  must  cut  off 


214    AMATEUR   BODMAKING 

suitable  lengths  and  wax  and  separate  the 
strands  before  beginning  to  wind.  This  is 
more  tedious  than  employing  silk  direct  from 
the  spool,  but  you  have  the  advantage  of  pre- 
paring the  material  for  several  windings  at 
one  time,  and  a  little  experimenting  will  deter- 
mine how  much  to  cut  for  certain  work.  A 
strand  fifteen  inches  in  length  will  make  four 
or  five  narrow  windings  for  a  fly-rod  tip,  but 
for  the  joint  and  butt  much  longer  strands  will 
be  necessary. 

Because  of  the  flat,  ribbon-like  form  of  the 
separated  strands,  fewer  turns  to  each  wind- 
ing will  be  the  rule  than  if  00  were  used; 
but  the  silk  is  so  thin  when  tightly  wound  that 
no  objections  can  be  raised  to  its  bulk.  Given 
a  coat  of  shellac  on  the  silk  only,  and  the  en- 
tire rod  then  coated  with  the  best  light  coach 
varnish,  put  on  while  warm,  the  rod  will  be 
a  work  of  art,  and  a  finger  rubbed  over  Its 
length  will  barely  feel  the  windings. 

Finally,  the  thinner  the  silk  employed  in 
windings,  the  less  will  they  be  cut  and  frayed 
by  the  fly  line.  A  great  many  of  the  hard 
enameled  fly  lines  break,  or,  rather,  the  enamel 
breaks  in  places  if  much  used,  so  that  the  line 
is  not  smooth  and  wiry  as  when  new,  and  such 
lines  wear  the  windings   rapidly,   particularly 


WINDING  RODS  215 

those  in  which  large  sizes  of  silk  are  used.  I 
have  seen  new  tournament  fly-rods  with  every 
winding  on  the  tips  cut  entirely  through  after 
a  few  days'  use,  necessitating  considerable  ex- 
pense in  renewing  windings  and  varnish;  but 
this  is  often  due  to  insufficient  varnish  in  the 
first  place,  or  to  coating  the  rod  with  shellac 
instead  of  good  varnish.  It  is  much  less 
trouble  and  cheaper  to  shellac  windings,  rod 
and  all  at  one  time  than  to  shellac  the  wind- 
ings, then  varnish  over  all,  two  coats;  but  it 
is  not  so  satisfactory  to  the  owner  of  the  rod. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

VARNISHING  RODS 

WHEN  your  rod  has  been  wound,  it  is 
well  to  take  up  each  joint,  and  while 
turning  it  rapidly,  pass  it  over  an 
alcohol  or  gas  flame  to  remove  all  fuzzy  ends 
of  silk.  Be  careful  that  the  flame  is  not  close 
enough  to  scorch  the  windings,  however.  If 
any  ends  of  silk  protrude,  cut  them  off  short 
with  a  sharp  knife. 

Now  warm  your  grain  alcohol  shellac 
slightly,  so  that  it  will  flow  well,  and  with  the 
thin,  round  artist's  brush  previously  referred 
to,  coat  each  silk  winding  evenly,  being  care- 
ful to  keep  the  shellac  off  the  wood.  As  a  rule 
one  coat  on  the  windings  will  be  suflScient,  but 
if  the  silk  seems  to  be  dry  and  dull  after  the 
first  coat  has  dried,  go  over  it  lightly  a  second 
time,  and  let  the  rod  dry  for  several  hours. 
Because  the  shellac  seems  to  be  dry  and  hard 
on  the  surface  of  the  windings  after  an  hour, 
do  not  take  it  for  granted  and  go  ahead  with 
varnishing.  Shellac  dries  on  the  surface  first, 
216 


VARNISHING  RODS         217 

and  if  two  coats  of  it  are  put  on  windings,  it 
is  well  to  let  them  dry  for  a  couple  of  days 
before  attempting  to  varnish. 

When  you  take  it  up  again,  go  over  the 
wood  with  a  piece  of  flannel  or  linen,  rubbing 
lightly  but  thoroughly  to  remove  any  wax, 
grease  or  oil  that  may  have  accumulated  there 
during  the  winding.  This  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  the  attainment  of  a  nice  finish,  and 
after  the  shellac  on  the  windings  is  hard  no 
harm  can  be  done  by  polishing  the  wood  with 
a  strip  of  soft  cotton  or  silk,  bootblack  fash- 
ion. To  do  this  hold  one  end  of  the  joint 
against  something  firm,  to  prevent  turning. 
While  it  is  not  necessary,  the  shellac  can  be 
warmed  slightly  over  a  flame  at  this  stage  and 
the  joint  turned  while  a  finger  is  passed  around 
each  winding  to  smooth  down  any  uneven  sur- 
faces. After  this  do  not  touch  the  wood  or 
windings  with  your  hands;  pick  It  up  by  the 
ferrules  instead. 

When  you  are  ready  to  varnish,  select  a 
warm  day  if  possible,  or  at  any  rate  one  when 
the  air  is  not  humid  or  moist.  The  rod  should 
be  warmed  in  a  room  where  the  temperature 
is  75  degrees,  and  your  can  of  extra  light 
coach  varnish  should  be  left  for  ten  minutes 
in  a  pot  of  steaming  hot  water,  to  be  sure  that 


218    AMATEUR   BODMAKING 

it  will  be  thin  and  all  particles  of  gum  con- 
tained in  it  will  be  melted  so  that  it  will  flow 
nicely  and  dry  rapidly.  A  warm  rod  and  hot 
varnish  will  insure  a  nice  finish. 

For  your  work  it  is  assumed  that  you  have 
procured  a  flat  brush  of  good  quality,  and  that 
you  are  ready  to  begin  by  holding  one  end  of 
a  joint  on  a  table  and  the  other  in  your  left 
hand.  With  a  modest  quantity  of  varnish, 
pass  the  brush  from  the  top  down  for  four 
inches,  turning  the  joint  slowly  while  the 
brush  is  held  at  an  angle  of  about  20  degrees 
to  the  rod.  Work  very  slowly,  and  in  going 
over  each  winding  see  that  a  bare  spot  is  not 
left  there,  caused  by  the  brush  skipping  over 
the  silk  and  missing  the  wood  just  beyond. 
To  prevent  this  it  is  sometimes  advisable  to 
pass  the  brush  around  the  rod  at  each  wind- 
ing first,  then,  when  the  varnish  in  it  is  nearly 
exhausted,  go  over  that  part  lengthwise,  to 
Insure  an  even  coating.  At  any  rate,  great 
care  must  be  exercised  to  prevent  daubing  the 
varnish  on  In  places  and  skipping  others. 

The  first  coat  should  be  worked  in,  with  no 
attempt  to  flow  the  varnish  on,  and  be  careful 
lest  varnish  accumulates  around  the  guides, 
and  leaves  them  gummed  up  and  unsightly. 
The  same  care  is  necessary  with  reference  to 


VARNISHING  RODS         219 

the  ferrules.  To  avoid  marring  them,  pass 
the  brush  around  the  contiguous  winding  very 
slowly,  coating  the  silk  but  not  encroaching  on 
the  metal. 

When  all  the  part  of  the  rod  are  var- 
nished, if  they  can  be  assembled  and  the  rod 
suspended  in  a  fairly  warm,  dry  room,  free 
from  dust,  for  two  or  three  days,  all  should 
be  well.  A  brad  driven  in  a  picture  mould- 
ing is  ideal,  provided  the  rod  does  not  hang 
close  to  the  wall,  but  the  center  of  a  room 
is  a  better  place,  as  some  walls  are  cold,  even 
damp,  and  on  the  side  of  a  rod  hanging  close 
to  such  a  wall  the  varnish  may  crawl  andj 
spoil  your  work. 

In  spring  or  summer  it  is  usually  safe  to 
varnish  a  rod  in  the  morning  and  suspend  it 
in  a  window.  The  morning  sun  is  not  too 
warm,  but  it  is  oft^en  too  warm  after  lo 
o'clock  for  the  best  results.  Plenty  of  fresh 
air  is  best,  but  a  windy  place  should  be  avoid- 
ed, as  dust  is  likely  to  be  flying  there.  Do 
not  leave  separate  joints,  while  they  are  dry- 
ing, where  careless  persons  may  accidentally 
knock  them  over  or  break  them,  and  see  that 
they  are  kept  indoors  at  night.  Do  not  touch 
the  varnish  with  the  hands. 

Perhaps  you  will  be  satisfied  with  one  coat 


220    AMATEUR   EODMAKING 

of  varnish.  If  it  is  evenly  applied  it  will  be 
sufficient  for  split  bamboo  rods;  but  coach 
varnish  applied  while  warm  is  not  very  thick, 
and  a  light  second  coat  will  keep  out  moisture. 
The  first  coat  should  set  in  four  hours  and  be 
hard  enough  for  a  second  coat  in  less  than  a 
week.  The  second  coat,  however,  should  be 
given  as  much  time  as  possible  to  dry  and 
harden  before  the  rod  is  used,  depending  on 
the  temperature.  This  coat  can  be  deferred 
with  safety  until  the  middle  of  the  season  or 
even  until  the  following  winter  if  the  rod  is 
not  subjected  to  hard  usage;  and  if  it  is  still 
in  good  condition,  the  new  varnish  will  make 
It  like  a  new  rod.  For  hard  use,  however,  two 
coats  of  varnish  will  not  be  wasted,  but  three 
will  not  be  needed. 

If  spar  varnish  is  to  be  used — and  many 
salt  water  anglers  employ  it — three  coats, 
with  several  days  between,  will  be  necessary. 

Cord-wound  handgrasps  should  be  given 
two  coats  of  shellac  and  one  of  coach  var- 
nish. More  will  be  likely  to  render  the  cord 
slippery.  If  the  grasp  is  sumac,  omit  the 
shellac  and  put  on  two  coats  of  coach,  giving 
it  ample  time  to  dry. 

THE  END 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

0UT-IN6 

11  A  MfMinOir  Q  ^^*  itxthooh  Sot  out- 
r%J\lSMJD\J\Jr^^    door   work   and  play 

ft  Each  book  deals  with  a  separate  BuLject  and  deals  with  it  thor- 
oughly. If  you  want  to  know  anything  about  Airedales  an  OUTING 
HANDBOOK  gives  you  all  you  want.  If  it's  Apple  Growing,  another 
OUTING  HANDBOOK  meets  your  need.  The  Fisherman,  the 
Camper,  the  Poultry-raiser,  the  Automobilist,  the  Horseman,  all 
varieties  of  out-door  enthusiasts,  will  find  separate  volumes  for  their 
separate  interests.    There  is  no  waste  space. 

^  The  series  is  based  on  the  plan  of  one  subject  to  a  book  and  each 
book  complete.  The  authors  are  experts.  Each  book  has  been 
specially  prepared  for  this  series  and  all  are  published  in  uniform 
style,  flexible  cloth  binding. 

CL  Two  hundred  titles  are  projected.  The  series  covers  all  phases 
of  outdoor  life,  from  bee-keeping  to  big-game  shooting.  Among  the 
books  now  ready  or  in  preparation  are  those  described  on  the  fol- 
lowing pages. 

PRICE  SEVENTY  CENTS  PER  VOL.  NET,  POSTAGE  5c.  EXTRA 
THE  NUMBERS  MAKE  ORDERING  EASY. 

1.    EXERCISE   AND   HEALTH,  by   Dr.    Woods 

Hutchinson.  Dr.  Hutchinson  takes  the  conunon-sense  view  that 
the  greatest  problem  in  exercise  for  most  of  us  is  to  get  enough  of 
the  right  kind.  The  greatest  error  in  exercise  is  not  to  take  enough, 
and  the  greatest  danger  in  athletics  is  in  giving  them  up.  He  writes 
in  a  direct  matter-of-fact  manner  with  an  avoidance  of  medical  terms, 
and  a  strong  emphasis  on  the  rational,  all-round  manner  of  living 
that  is  best  calculated  to  bring  a  man  to  a  ripe  old  age  with  little 
illness  or  consciousness  of  bodily  weakness. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY-NEW  YORK 

2.  CAMP  COOKERY,  by  Horace  Kephart.  "The 
less  a  man  carries  in  Lis  pack  the  more  he  must  carry  in  his  head," 
says  Mr.  Kephart.  This  book  tells  what  a  man  should  carry  in  both 
pack  and  head.  Every  step  is  traced — the  selection  of  provisions 
and  utensils,  with  the  kind  and  quantity  of  each,  the  preparation  of 
game,  the  building  of  fires,  the  cooking  of  every  conceivable  kind  of 
food  that  the  camp  outfit  or  woods,  fields  or  streams  may  provide — 
even  to  the  making  of  desserts.  Every  recipe  is  the  result  of  hard 
practice  and  long  experience. 


3.  BACKWOODS  SURGERY  AND  MEDICINE, 
by  Charles  S.  Moody,  M.  D.  A  handy  book  for  the  pni- 
dent  lover  of  the  woods  who  doesn't  expect  to  be  ill  but  believes  in 
being  on  the  safe  side.  Common-sense  methods  for  the  treatment 
of  the  ordinary  wounds  and  accidents  are  described — setting  a 
broken  limb,  reducing  a  dislocation,  caring  for  bums,  cuts,  etc. 
Practical  remedies  for  camp  diseases  are  recommended,  as  well  as 
the  ordinary  indications  of  the  most  probable  ailments.  Includes  a 
list  of  the  necessary  medical  and  surgical  supplies. 

4.  APPLE  GROWING,  by   M.    C.   Burritt.    ite 

various  problems  confronting  the  apple  grower,  firom  the  preparation 
of  the  soil  and  the  planting  of  the  trees  to  the  marketing  of  Uie  fruit, 
arc  discussed  in  detail  by  the  author.  Chapter  headings  are: — The 
Outlook  for  the  Growing  of  Apples — Planning  for  the  Orchard — 
Planting  and  Growing  the  Orchard — Pruning  the  Trees — Cultivation 
and  Cover  Cropping — Manuring  and  Fertilizing — Insects  and  Dis- 
eases A£Fecting  the  Apple — The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Spraying 
— Harvesting  and  Storing — Markets  and  Marketing — Some  Hints  on 
Renovating  Old  Orchards — The  Cost  of  Growing  Apples. 

5.  THE  AIREDALE,  by   Williams  Haynes.     The 

book  opens  with  a  short  chapter  on  the  origin  and  development  of 
the  Airedale,  as  a  distinctive  breed.  The  author  then  takes  up  the 
problems  of  type  as  bearing  on  the  selection  of  the  dog,  breeding, 
training  and  use.  The  book  is  designed  for  the  non-professional  dog 
fancier,  who  wishes  common  sense  advice  which  does  not  involve 
elaborate  preparations  or  expenditure.  Chapters  are  included  on  the 
care  of  the  dog  in  the  kennel  and  simple  remedies  for  ordinary 
diseases. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY-^NEW  YORK 

♦  6.  THE  AUTOMOBILE— Its  Selection,  Care  and 
Use,  by  Robert  Sloss.  This  is  a  plain,  practical  discussion  of 
the  things  that  every  man  needs  to  know  if  he  is  to  buy  the  right  car 
and  get  the  most  out  of  it.  The  various  details  of  operation  and 
care  are  given  in  simple,  intelligent  terms.  From  it  the  car  owner 
can  easily  learn  the  mechanism  of  his  motor  and  the  art  of  locating 
motor  trouble,  as  well  as  how  to  use  his  car  for  the  greatest  pleasure. 
A  chapter  is  included  on  building  garages. 

7.    FISHING     KITS     AND     EQUIPMENT,    by 

Samuel  G.  Camp,  a  complete  guide  to  the  angler  buying  a  new 
outfit.  Every  detail  of  the  fishing  kit  of  the  firesh water  angler  is  de- 
scribed, from  rodtip  to  creel,  and  clothing.  Special  emphasis  is  laid 
on  outfitting  for  fly  fishing,  but  full  instruction  is  also  given  to  the 
man  who  wants  to  catch  pickerel,  pike,  muskellunge,  lake-trout,  bass 
and  other  fi*eshwater  game  fishes.  Prices  are  quoted  for  all  articles 
recommended  and  the  approved  method  of  selecting  and  testing  the 
various  rods,  lines,  leaders,  etc.,  is  described. 


8.  THE  FINE  ART  OF  FISHING,  by  Samuel  G. 

Camp.  Combine  the  pleasure  of  catching  fish  with  the  gratification 
of  following  the  sport  in  the  most  approved  manner.  The  sugges- 
tions ofiered  are  helpful  to  beginner  and  expert  anglers.  The  range 
of  fish  and  fishing  conditions  covered  is  wide  and  includes  such  sii- 
jects  as  'Tasting  Fine  and  Far  Off,"  "Strip-Casting  for  Bass,"  "Fish- 
ing  for  Mountain  Trout"  and  *'Autumn  Fishing  for  Lake  Trout." 
The  book  is  pervaded  with  a  spirit  of  love  for  the  streamside  and 
the  out-doors  generally  which  the  genuine  angler  will  appreciate. 
A  companion  book  to  ''Fishing  Kits  and  Equipment."  The  advice 
on  outfitting  so  capably  given  in  that  book  is  supplemented  in  this 
later  work  by  equally  valuable  information  on  how  to  use  the 
equipment. 

9.  THE  HORSE— Its  Breeding,  Care  and  Use,  by 

David  BuflFum.  Mr.  Buffum  takes  up  the  common,  every-day 
problems  of  the  ordinary  horse-users,  such  as  feeding,  shoeing, 
simple  home  remedies,  breaking  and  the  cure  for  various  equine 
vices.  ^  An  important  chapter  is  that  tracing  the  influx  of  Arabian 
blood  into  the  English  and  American  horses  and  its  value  and  limi- 
tations. Chapters  are  included  on  draft-horses,  carriage  horses,  and 
the  development  of  the  two-minute  trotter.  It  is  distinctly  a  sensible 
book  for  the  sensible  man  who  wishes  to  know  how  he  can  improve 
his  horses  and  his  horsemanship  at  the  same  time. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

10.  THE  MOTOR  BOAT— Its  Selection,  Care  and 

Use,  by  H.  W.  Slauson.  The  intending  purchaser  ig  advised 
as  to  the  type  of  motor  boat  best  suited  to  hie  particular  needs  and 
how  to  keep  it  in  running  condition  after  purchased.  The  chapter 
headings  are:  Kinds  and  Uses  of  Motor  Boats — WTien  the  Motor 
Balks — Speeding  of  the  Motor  Boat — Getting  More  Power  from  a 
New  Motor — How  to  Install  a  Marine  Power  Plant — Accessories — 
Covers,  Canopies  and  Tops — Camping  and  Cruising — The  Boathouse. 

11.  OUTDOOR  SIGNALLING,  by  Elbert  Wells. 

Mr.  Wells  has  perfected  a  method  of  signalling  by  means  of  wig- 
wag, light,  smoke,  or  whistle  which  is  as  simple  as  it  is  effective. 
The  fundamental  principle  can  bo  learned  in  ten  minutes  and  its 
application  is  far  easier  than  that  of  any  other  code  now  in  use. 
It  permits  also  the  use  of  cipher  and  can  be  adapted  to  almost  any 
imaginable  conditions  of  weather,  light,  or  topography. 

12.  TRACKS  AND  TRACKING,  by  Josef  Bnmner. 

After  twenty  years  of  patient  study  and  practical  experience,  Mr. 
Brunner  can,  from  his  intimate  knowledge,  speak  with  authority  on 
this  subject.  "Tracks  and  Tracking"  shows  how  to  follow  intelli- 
gently even  the  most  intricate  animal  or  bird  tracks.  It  teaches  how 
to  interpret  tracks  of  wild  game  and  decipher  the  many  tell-tale 
signs  of  the  chase  that  would  otherwise  pass  unnoticed.  It  proves 
how  it  is  possible  to  tell  from  the  footprints  the  name,  sex,  speed, 
direction,  whether  and  how  wounded,  and  many  other  things  about 
wild  animals  and  birds.  All  material  has  been  gathered  first  hand  ; 
the  drawings  and  half-tones  from  photographs  form  an  important 
part  of  the  work. 


13.    WING  AND  TRAP-SHOOTING,  by  Charles 

Askins.  Contains  a  full  discussion  of  the  various  methods, 
such  as  snap-shooting,  swing  and  half-swing,  discusses  the  flight  of 
birds  with  reference  to  the  gunner's  problem  of  lead  and  range  and 
makes  special  application  of  the  various  points  to  the  different  birds 
commonly  shot  in  this  country.  A  chapter  is  included  on  trap 
shooting  and  the  book  closes  with  a  forceftd  and  common-sense 
presentation  of  the  etiguette  of  the  field. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY-^NEW  YORK 

14.  PROFITABLE  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY,  by 

Arthur  S.  Wheeler.     Mr.  Wheeler  discusses  from  personal  ex- 

gerience  the  })est-known  general  purpose  breeds.  Advice  is  given 
•om  the  standpoint  of  ihe'^naan  who  desires  results  in  eggs  and  stock 
rather  than  in  specimens  for  exhibition.  In  addition  to  a  careful 
analysis  of  stock — good  and  bad — and  some  conclusions  regarding 
housing  and  management,  the  author  writes  in  detail  regarding 
Plymouth  Rocks,  Wyandottes,  Orpingtons,  Rhode  Island  Reds, 
Mediterraneans  and  the  Cornish. 

15.  RIFLES  AM)  RIFLE  SHOOTING,  by  Charles 

Askins.  A  practical  manual  describing  various  makes  and  mechan- 
isms, in  addition  to  discussing  in  detail  the  range  and  limitations  in 
the  use  of  the  rifle.  Treats  on  the  every  style  and  make  of  rifle 
as  well  as  their  use.  Every  type  of  rifle  is  discussed  so  that  the 
book  is  complete  in  every  detaiL 

16.  SPORTING  FIREARMS,  by  Horace  Kephart. 

This  book  is  the  result  of  painstaking  tests  and  experiments.  Prac- 
tically nothing  is  taken  for  granted.  Part  I  deals  with  the  rifle,  and 
Part  II  with  the  shotgun.  The  man  seeking  guidance  in  the  selec- 
tion and  use  of  small  firearms,  as  well  as  the  advanced  student  of 
the  subject,  will  receive  an  unusual  amount  of  assistance  from  this 
work.  The  chapter  headings  are:  Rifles  and  Ammunition — The 
Flight  of  Bullets — Killing  Power — Rifle  Mechanism  and  Materials — 
Rifle  Sights — Triggers  and  Stocks — Care  of  Rifle — Shot  Patterns  and 
Penetration — Gauges  and  "Weights — Mechanism  and  Build  of 
Shotguns. 

17.  THE  YACHTSMAN'S  HANDBOOK,  by  Herbert 

L.  Stone.  The  author  and  compiler  of  this  work  is  the  editor  of 
**  Yachting."  He  treats  in  simple  language  of  the  many  problems 
confironting  the  amateur  sailor  and  motor  boatman.  Handling 
ground  tackle,  handling  lines,  taking  soundings,  the  use  of  the  lead 
Hue,  care  and  use  of  sails,  yachting  etiquette,  are  all  given  careful 
attention.  Some  light  is  thrown  upon  the  operation  of  the  gasoline 
motor,  and  suggestions  are  made  for  the  avoidance  of  engine 
troubles. 

18.  SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  TERRIERS,  by  Wil- 
liams Haynes.  This  is  a  companion  book  to  "The  Airedale," 
and  deals  with  the  history  and  development  of  both  breeds.  For 
the  owner  of  the  dog,  valuable  information  is  given  as  to  the  use  of 
the  terriers,  their  treatment  in  health,  their  treatment  when  sick, 
the  principles  of  dog  breeding,  and  dog  shows  and  rules. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NE  W  YORK 

19.  NAVIGATION  FOR  THE  AMATEUR,  by  Capt.  " 

E.  T.  Morton.  A  stort  treatise  on  the  simpler  methods  of  find- 
ing position  at  sea  by  the  observation  of  the  sun's  altitude  and  the 
use  of  the  sextant  and  chronometer.  It  is  arranged  especially  for 
yachtsmen  and  amateurs  who  wish  to  know  the  simpler  formulae 
for  the  necessary  navigation  involved  in  taking  a  boat  anywhere  off 
shore.  Illustrated  with  drawings.  Chapter  headings :  Fundamental 
Terms — Time — The  Sumner  Line— The  Day's  Work,  Equal  Altitude^ 
and  Ex-Meridian  Sights — Hints  on  Taking  Observations. 

20.  OUTDOOR  PHOTOGRAPHY,  by  Julian  A. 

Dimock.  A  solution  of  all  the  problems  in  camera  work  out-of- 
doors.  The  various  subjects  dealt  with  are :  The  Camera — Lens  and 
Plates — Light  and  Exposure — Development — Prints  and  Printing — 
Composition — Landscapes — Figure  Work— Speed  Photography — ^1  he 
Leaping  Tarpon — Sea  Pictures^In  the  Good  Old  Winter  Time — 
Wild  Life. 

21.  PACKING    AND    PORTAGING,    by    Dmon 

Wallace.  Mr,  Wallace  has  brought  together  in  one  volume  all 
the  valuable  information  on  the  different  ways  of  making  and  carry- 
ing the  different  kinds  of  packs.  The  ground  covered  ranges  from 
man-packing  to  horse-packing,  from  Uie  use  of  the  tump  line  to 
throwing  the  diamond  hitch. 

22.  THE  BULL  TERRIER,  by  Williams  Haynes. 

This  is  a  companion  book  to  *'The  Airedale"  and  ''Scottish  and  Irish 
Terriers"  by  the  same  author.  Its  greatest  usefulness  is  as  a  guide 
to  the  dog  owner  who  wishes  to  be  his  own  kennel  manager.  A  full 
account  of  the  development  of  the  breed  is  given  with  a  description 
of  best  types  and  standards.  Recommendations  for  the  care  of 
the  dog  in  health  or  sickness  are  included.  The  chapter  heads 
cover  such  matters  as: — The  Bull  Terrier's  History — Training  the 
Bull  Terrier— The  Terrier  iu  Health^JSLenneling— Diseases. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

23.  THE  FOX  TERRIER,  by   Williams   Haynes. 

As  in  his  other  books  on  the  terrier,  Mr.  Haynes  takes  up  the  origin 
and  history  of  the  breed,  its  types  and  standards,  and  the  more  ex- 
clusive representatives  down  to  the  present  time.  Training  the  Fox 
Terrier — JHis  Care  and  KenneKng  in  Sickness  and  Health — and  the 
Various  Uses  to  Which  He  Can  Be  Put — are  among  the  phases 
handled. 

24.  SUBURBAN    GARDENS,    by    Grace    Tabor. 

Illustrated  with  diagrams.  The  author  regards  the  house  and 
grounds  as  a  complete  unit  and  shows  how  the  best  results  may  be 
obtained  by  carrying  the  reader  in  detail  through  the  various  phases 
of  designing  the  garden,  with  the  levels  and  contours  necessary, 
laying  out  the  walks  and  paths,  planning  and  placing  the  arbors, 
summer  houses,  seats,  etc.,  and  selecting  and  placing  trees,  shrubs, 
vines  and  flowers.  Ideal  plans  for  plots  of  various  sizes  are  appended, 
as  well  as  suggestions  for  correcting  mistakes  that  have  been  made 
through  "starting  wrong," 


25.  FISHING    WITH    FLOATING    FLIES,   by 

Samuel  G.  Camp.  This  is  an  art  that  is  comparatively  new  in 
this  country  although  English  anglers  have  used  the  dry  fly  for 
generations.  Mr,  Camp  has  given  the  matter  special  study  and  is 
one  of  the  few  American  anglers  who  really  understands  the  matter 
from  the  selection  of  the  outfit  to  the  landing  of  the  fish.  His  book 
takes  up  the  process  in  that  order,  ramely — How  to  Outfit  for  Dry 
Fly  Fishing — How,  Where,  and  When  to  Cast — The  Selection  and 
Use  of  Floating  Flies — Dry  Fly  Fishing  for  Brook,  Brown  and 
Rainbow  Trout — Hooking,  Playing  and  Landing — Practical  Hints  on 
Dry  Fly  Fishing. 

26.  THE  GASOLINE  MOTOR,  by  Harold  Whiting 

SlaUSOn.  Deals  with  the  practical  problems  of  motor  operation. 
The  standpoint  is  that  of  the  man  who  wishes  to  know  how  and 
why  gasoline  generates  power  and  something  about  the  various 
types.  Describes  in  detail  the  different  parts  of  motors  and  the 
faults  to  which  they  are  liable.  Also  gives  full  directions  as  to  re- 
pair and  upkeep.  Various  chapters  deal  with  Types  of  Motors — 
Valves  —  Bearings  —  Ignition  —  Carburetors — Lubrication —  Fuel  — 
Two  Cycle  Motors. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

27.  ICE  BOATING,  by  H.  L  Stone.  Illustrated  wti 
diagrams.  Here  have  been  brought  together  all  the  available  in- 
formation  on  the  organization  and  history  of  ice-boating,  the  build- 
ing of  the  various  types  of  ice  yachts,  from  the  small  15  footer  to 
the  600-foot  racer,  together  with  detailed  plans  and  specifications. 
Full  information  is  also  given  to  meet  the  needs  of  those  who  wish 
to  be  able  to  build  and  sail  their  own  boats  but  are  handicapped  by 
the  lack  of  proper  knowledge  as  to  just  the  points  described  in  this 
volume. 

28.  MODERN  GOLF,  by  Harold  H.  Hilton.    Mr. 

Hilton  is  the  only  man  who  has  ever  held  the  amateur  champion- 
ship of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  in  the  same  year.  In 
addition  to  this,  he  has,  for  years,  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  intelligent,  steady  players  of  the  game  in  England.  This  book 
is  a  product  of  his  advanced  thought  and  experience  and  gives  the 
reader  sound  advice,  not  so  much  on  the  mere  swinging  of  the  clubs 
as  in  the  actual  playing  of  the  game,  with  all  the  factors  that  enter 
into  it.  He  discusses  the  use  of  wooden  clubs,  the  choice  of  clubs, 
the  art  of  approaching,  tournament  play  as  a  distinct  thing  in  itself, 
and  kindred  subjects. 

29.  INTENSIVE   FARMING,  by  L.   C.   Corbett. 

A  discussion  of  the  meaning,  method  and  value  of  intensive  methods 
in  agriculture.  This  book  is  designed  for  the  convenience  of  prac- 
tical farmers  who  find  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  making  a 
living  out  of  high-priced  land. 

30.  PRACTICAL  DOG  BREEDING,  by  Williams 
Haynes.  This  is  a  companion  volume  to  PRACTICAL  DOG 
KEEPING,  described  below.  It  goes  at  length  into  the  funda- 
mental questions  of  breeding,  such  as  selection  of  t}^es  on  both 
sides,  the  perpetuation  of  desirable,  and  the  elimination  of  undesir- 
able, qualities,  the  value  of  prepotency  in  building  up  a  desired 
breed,  etc.  The  arguments  are  illustrated  with  instances  of  what 
has  been  accomplished,  both  good  and  bad,  in  the  case  of  well- 
known  breeds. 

31.  PRACTICAL    DOG   KEEPING,  by   Williams 

Haynes.  Mr.  Haynes  is  well  known  to  the  readers  of  the  OUTING 
HANDBOOKS  as  the  author  of  books  on  the  terriers.  His  new 
book  is  somewhat  more  ambitious  in  that  it  carries  him  into  the 
general  field  of  selection  of  breeds,  the  buying  and  selling  of  do^s, 
the  care  of  dogs  in  kennels,  handling  in  bench  shows  and  field  trials, 
and  at  considerable  lenj^th  into  such  subjects  as  food  and  feeding, 
CJvCrcise  and  grooming,  disease,  etc. 


OUTTNCr  PUnT.ISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 


32.  PRACTICAL  TREE    PLANTING,  by  C.  R. 

Pettis.  The  author,  who  is  the  New  York  State  Forester,  takes  up 
the  general  subject  of  reforesting,  covering  nature's  method  and  the 
practical  methods  of  broadcast  seed-sowing,  seed  spot  planting, 
nursery  practice,  etc.  The  various  species  are  described  and  their 
adaptability  to  varying  conditions  indicated.  Results  of  reforesting 
are  shown  and  instructions  are  given  for  the  planting  of  wind- 
breaks and  shade  trees. 

33.  AMATEUR  RODMAKING,  by  Perry  D.  Frazer. 

Illustrated,  a  practical  znanual  for  all  those  who  want  to  make 
their  own  rod  and  fittings.  It  contains  a  review  of  fishing  rod  his- 
tory, a  discussion  of  materials,  a  list  of  the  tools  needed,  description 
of  the  method  to  be  followed  in  making  all  kinds  of  rods,  including 
fiy-casting,  bait-fishing,  ealmon,  etc.,  with  full  instructions  for  wind- 
ing, varnishing,  etc, 

34.  PISTOL  AND  REVOLVER  SHOOTING,  by  A.  L. 

A.  Hinnnelwright.  A  new  and  revised  edition  of  a  work  that  has 
already  achieved  prominence  as  an  accepted  authority  on  the  use  of 
the  hand  gun.  Full  instructions  are  given  in  the  use  of  both  revolver 
and  target  pistol,  including  shooting  position,  grip,  position  of  arm,  etc. 
The  book  is  thoroughly  illustrated  with  diagrams  and  photographs 
and  includes  the  rules  of  the  United  States  Revolver  Association 
and  a  list  of  the  records  made  both  here  and  abroad. 

35.  PIGEON  RAISING,  by  Alice  MacLeod.    This 

is  a  book  for  both  fancier  and  market  breeder.  Full  descriptions 
are  given  of  the  construction  of  houses,  the  care  of  the  birds,  pre- 

Earation  for  market,  and  shipment.     Descriptions  of  the  various 
reeds  with  their  markings  and  characteristics  are  given.    Illustrated 
with  photographs  and  diagrams. 

36.  FISHING  TACKLE,  by  Perry  D.  Frazer.    H- 

lustratecl.  The  subtitle  is  descriptive.  "Hints  for  Beginners  in 
the  Selection,  Care,  and  Use  of  Rods,  Reels,  Lines,  etc."  It  tells  all 
the  fisherman  needs  to  know  about  making  and  overhauling  his 
tackle  during  the  closed  season  and  gives  full  instructions  for  tour- 
nament casting  and  fly-casting.  Chapters  are  included  on  cases  and 
holders  for  the  care  of  tackle  when  not  in  use. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 
37!      AUTOMOBILE     OPERATION,     by    A.    L. 

Brennan,  Jr.  Illustrated.  Tells  the  plain  truth  about  the  little 
things  that  every  motorist  wants  to  know  about  his  own  car.  Do 
you  want  to  cure  ignition  troubles?  Overhaul  and  adjust  your 
carbureter?  Keep  your  transmission  in  order?  Get  the  maximum 
wear  out  of  your  tires?  Do  any  other  of  the  hundred  and  one 
things  that  are  necessary  for  the  greatest  use  and  enjoyment  of  your 
car?    Then  you  will  find  this  book  useful. 

38.  THE  FOX  HOUND,  by  Roger  D.  Waiiams. 
Author  of  "Horse  and  Hound".  Illustrated.  The  author  is 
the  foremost  authority  on  fox  hunting  and  foxhounds  in  America. 
For  years  he  has  kept  the  foxhound  studbook,  and  is  the  final  source 
of  information  on  all  disputed  points  relating  to  this  breed.  His 
book  discusses  types,  methods  of  training,  kenneling,  diseases  and 
all  the  other  practical  points  relating  to  the  use  and  care  of  the 
hound.  An  appendix  is  added  containing  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  hound  field  trials. 

39.  SALT  WATER  GAME  FISHING,  by  Charles 

F.  Holder.  Mr.  Holder  covers  the  whole  field  of  his  subject 
devoting  a  chapter  each  to  such  fish  as  the  tuna,  the  tarpon,  amber- 
jack,  the  sail  fish,  the  yellow-tail,  the  king  fish,  the  barracuda,  the 
sea  bass  and  the  small  game  fishes  of  Florida,  Porto  Rico,  the  Pacific 
Coast,  Hawaii,  and  the  Philippines.  The  habits  and  habitats  of  the 
fish  are  described,  together  with  the  methods  and  tackle  for  taking 
them.  The  book  concludes  with  an  account  of  the  development 
and  rules  of  the  American  Sea  Angling  Clubs.    Illustrated. 

40.  WINTER  CAMPING,  by  Warwick  S.  Carpenter. 
A  book  that  meets  the  increasing  interest  in  outdoor  life  in  the  cold 
weather.  Mr.  Carpenter  discusses  such  subjects  as  shelter  equipment, 
clothing,  food,  snowshoeing,  skiing,  and  winter  hunting,  wild  life  in 
winter  woods,  care  of  firost  bite,  etc.  It  is  based  on  much  actual  ex- 
perience in  winter  camping  and  is  fully  illustrated  with  working 
photographs. 

41.  LEARNING  TO  SWIM,  by  L.  DeB.  Handley. 

Illustrated.  Mr.  Handley  takes  up  the  problem  fi*om  the  standpoint 
of  the  person  of  any  sex  or  age  who  cannot  swim  a  stroke.  Step  by 
step  he  unfolds  the  various  stages,  floating,  the  side  stroke,  the 
crawl,  the  trudgeon,  the  breast  stroke,  swimming  on  the  back,  etc., 
concluding  with  a  chapter  on  speed  swimming  and  training  for  rac- 
ing. It  covers  the  whole  field  of  natation  in  a  clear,  simple  manner, 
with  photographs  showing  each  stroke  in  detail. 

42.  BOAT  AND  CANOE  BUILDING,  by  Victor 

Slocum.  All  of  us  like  to  think  we  could  build  a  boat  if  we  had 
to.  Mr.  Slocum  tells  us  how  to  do  it.  Designs  are  given  for  the 
various  types  of  canoes  as  well  as  full  descriptions  for  preparing  the 
material  and  putting  it  together.  Small  dories  and  lapstreak  boats 
«rc  also  include*' 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY-^NEW   YORK 

43.  PRACTICAL     PROSPECTING,    by     Charles 

Johnson  Post.  Illustrated.  Did  you  ever  wonder  what  ore- 
bearing  rock  looked  like  ?  Did  you  ever  want  to  know  how  to  test 
it  for  the  various  minerals?  Would  you  be  interested  in  learning 
how  to  put  together  a  rough  and  ready  outfit  that  would  do  all  the 
work  of  the  more  expensive  kits  ?  This  book  covers  all  these  points 
and  more.  It  is  a  valuable  companion  for  a  walking  trip  through 
the  hills.  It  tells  you  not  only  where  minerals  are  found  and  how, 
but  also  where  you  need  not  expect  to  find  them, 

44.  BOXING,  by  D.  C.  Hutchison.     Practical  in- 

structiou  for  men  who  wish  to  learn  the  first  steps  in  the  manly 
art.  Mr.  Hutchison  writes  from  long  personal  experience  as  an 
amateur  boxer  and  as  a  trainer  of  other  amateurs.  His  instructions 
are  accompanied  with  ftdl  diagrams  showing  the  approved  blows 
and  guards.  He  also  gives  full  directions  for  training  for  condition 
without  danger  of  going  stale  from  overtraining.  It  is  essentially  a 
book  for  the  amateur  who  boxes  for  sport  and  exercise. 

45.  TENNIS  TACTICS,  by  Raymond  D.   Little. 

Out  of  his  store  of  experience  as  a  successftd  tennis  player,  Mr. 
Little  has  written  this  practical  guide  for  those  who  wish  to  know 
how  real  tennis  is  played.  He  tells  the  reader  when  and  how  to 
take  the  net,  discusses  the  relative  merits  of  the  back-court  and 
volleying  game  and  how  their  proper  balance  may  be  achieved; 
analyzes  and  appraises  the  twist  service,  shows  the  fundamental 
necessities  of  successful  doubles  play. 

46.  THE  AUXILIARY  YACHT,  by  H.  L.  Stone. 

Combines  information  on  the  installation  of  power  in  a  boat  that 
was  not  designed  especially  for  it  with  the  features  desirable  in  de- 
signing a  boat  for  this  double  use.  Deals  with  the  peculiar  proper- 
ties of  the  auxiliary,  its  advantages  and  disadvantages,  the  handling 
of  the  boat  under  sail  and  power,  etc.  Does  not  go  into  detail  on 
engine  construe?  ion  but  gives  the  approximate  power  needed  for 
clifferent  boats  and  the  calculations  necessary  to  find  this  figure. 

47.  TAXIDERMY,  by  Leon  L.  Pray.    Blustrated  with 

diagrams.  Being  a  practical  taxidermist,  the  author  at  once  goes  into 
the  question  of  selection  of  tools  and  materials  for  the  various  stages 
of  skinning,  stuffing  and  mounting.  The  subjects  whose  handling 
is  described  are,  for  the  most  part,  the  every-day  ones,  such  as 
ordinary  birds,  small  mammals,  etc.,  although  adequate  instructions 
are  included  for  mounting  big  game  specimens,  as  well  as  the  pre- 
liminary cr.re  of  slrJns  in  hot  climates.  Full  diagrams  accompany 
the  text. 


OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY— NEW  YORK 

48.  THE  CANOE— ITS  SELECTION,  CARE  AND 
USE,  by  Robert  E.  Pinkerton.  Illustrated  with  photographs. 
With  proper  use  the  canoe  i8  one  of  the  safests  crafts  that  floats. 
Mr.  Pinkerton  tells  how  that  state  of  safety  may  be  obtained.  He 
gives  full  instructions  for  the  selection  of  the  right  canoe  for  each 
particular  purpose  or  set  of  conditions.  Then  he  tells  how  it  should 
be  used  in  order  to  secure  the  maximum  of  safety,  comfort  and  use- 
fulness. His  own  lesson  was  learned  among  the  Indians  of  Canada, 
where  paddling  is  a  high  art,  and  the  use  of  the  canoe  almost  as 
much   a  matter  of  course  as  the  wearing  of  moccasins. 

49.  HORSE    PACKING,     by    Charles    J.    Post. 

Illustrated  with  diagrams.  Thia  is  a  complete  description  of  the 
hitches,  knots,  and  apparatus  used  in  making  and  carrying  loads  of 
various  kinds  on  horseback.  Its  basis  is  the  methods  followed  in  the 
West  and  in  the  American  Army.  The  diagrams  are  full  and  detailed, 
giving  the  various  hitches  and  knots  at  each  of  the  important  stages 
so  that  even  the  novice  can  follow  and  use  them.  It  is  the  only 
book  ever  published  on  this  subject  of  which  this  could  be  eaid. 
Full  description  is  given  of  the  ideal  pack  animal,  as  well  as  a  cata- 
logue of  the  diseases  and  injuries  to  which  such  animals  are  subject. 

50.  RAINY  DAY  IN  CAMP,  by  C.  H.  Claudy. 

Illustrated.  What  do  you  do  when  you  are  stormbound  in  the  camp 
and  time  hangs  heavy  on  your  hands  ?  This  book  gives  a  long  list 
of  games  that  you  can  play  and  the  rules  that  govern  them.  ^  It  also 
describes  various  improvised  indoor  occupationt  appropriate  to 
camp  life.  If  you  have  it  in  your  duffle  bag  you  need  not  fear  the 
approach  of  tlureatening  clouds. 

51.  WALKING    OUTFITS,    by   C.    P.    Fordyce. 

niustsrated.  Every  year  the  adherents  of  "hiking"  in  this  country 
grow  in  numbers  and  enthusiasm.  It  is  an  old  art  and  a  valuable 
one.  But  something  more  than  a  pair  of  legs  is  necessary  to  make 
the  walking  trip  a  success.  You  must  wear  the  right  shoes  and  the 
right  clothes.  You  must  carry  with  you  the  right  kind  of  sleeping 
and  cooking  outfit.  Mr.  Fordyce  gives  the  concentrated  experience 
of  many  years  on  highway  and  trail. 

52.  LEARNING  TO  SKATE,     by  J.   F.  Verne. 

Illustrated.  Half  the  fun  of  skating  is  in  knowing  how  to  do  if 
with  the  least  effort.  Nothing  is  so  easy  when  you  know  how— or 
so  hard  when  you  don't.  This  book  describes  the  process  in  detail 
from  the  first  day  on  the  ice  to  the  highest  development  of 
speed  and  fancy  skating.  The  author  is  familiar  with  the^  latest 
developments  in  Europe  where  figure  skating  has  been  carried  to 
a  much  higher  point  than  in  America. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


